Accountant vs Stay At Home Parent

I worked as an accountant at various companies over the course of several years. I'm beginning to think that having worked as an accountant makes me appreciate being a stay at home parent today.

Being an accountant is thankless. No one cares about you until you make a mistake. No one wants to validate expenses; we're just a nuisance for requesting backup and information. It's a department usually outside of the realm of generating money for its company. It's just about support and oversight. Overhead. Its work is intangible, and as such not quantifiable.

Now I do things like clean, cook, bake, make baby food, shop, and play with Boogie and keep him safe and happy, all the while relieving my husband of some of the chores and errands he had to do back when we both worked. Yet, I still feel useful and productive. And it is in no way thankless, thanks to my boys, but there isn't the same kind of praise as if I was working in a different environment where everything well-done gets praised or highlighted. Getting that stain out of Boogie's clothes just doesn't elicit the same reaction :-P Someone asked me if i get bored as a SAHM. Are you kidding? Who has time to get bored? Besides, as a curious person, I've always been on the hunt for new information and to learn new things. So if I'm not doing something that *needs* to get done, or playing with my son (which is the whole point of this endeavor), I'm doing something that entertains me. There can be learning and growth in any of the challenges we take on, as long as we work to that end.

Intangible? Usually. Productive? Absolutely.