Mother's Worth

Sylvia Porter is a noted financial analyst. Mrs. Porter took her calculations to the computer and punched in an average hourly fee for a nursemaid, housekeeper, cook, dishwasher, laundress, food buyer, chauffeur, gardener, maintenance person, seamstress, dietitian, and practical nurse. She found that the labor performed by a mother each year at home would cost a family [at that time] $23,580 in Greensboro, South Carolina, $26,962 in Los Angeles, and $28,735 in Chicago. Even at that, the list is not exhaustive. In addition to the roles cited above, most moms also function as coach, teacher, interior decorator, religious educator, mediator, counselor, and child psychologist. Punch up salaries for all of those professions, and mom’s worth at least six figures!

* Focus on the Family, Jan. 1992, p. 7
McHenry’s Quips, Quotes and Other Notes, HeavenWord Stories for Teachers and Preachers, CD-ROM, Raleigh NC, 1999.