Adventures in Parenting

You know what a Stay-at-home mom is. But do you know what a Stay-at-home daughter is?

I recently found Jasmine’s blog about being a Stay-at-home daughter. Jasmine is an incredible young lady who has chosen to put family first in her life. She is intentionally learning the art of homemaking, and stays home to serve her family.  Jasmine says,

“I am twenty, and I’m what some would call a “stay-at-home daughter” I have chosen to live at home under the covering of my family until marriage…”

You’ll have to read her blog to appreciate Jasmine’s ability to articulate her values and what she is doing with her life.  Believe me, she is not sitting at home twiddling her thumbs, nor pining for a man to take her away.

Maybe the idea of a stay at home daughter sounds radical to you. But actually, there is nothing new in teaching our girls homemaking skills. Look at Martha Stewart. Teaching our children the basics of sewing, cooking, gardening, caring for the house, goes right along with the popularity of DIY today. Couple that with values for family and serving God, you can see that it is not too far-fetched for girls to live counterculturally as a stay-at-home daughter.

As parents, we’ve been influenced by the culture to think there is only one way to raise our children in their pursuits – choose a major in college, study hard, graduate and get a job, or go to grad school and get a job. We teach them to be serious in their studies and intentional with the path of a career. But marriage and family is a happenstance, without a need for preparation. Where are we placing our values? Are we preparing our children for what is most important in life?

Here is another site I found recently. RaisingHomemakers.com  is a site for parents who want to prepare their girls with the arts of homemaking.

“RaisingHomemakers.com is dedicated to inspiring, teaching and blessing mothers who have an interest in raising their daughter in godliness and preparing them in the arts of homemaking to the glory of God.”

My hope is that my girls will be better prepared with homemaking skills than I was and place a high value  on family and service.