Hey Mom, are you worth six figures? I think so.

Every year... for the last 12 years, salary.com has released its Mom Worth survey. And every year I chuckle at the thought of getting paid for being a wife/mother and all the chores and responsibilities that accompany that role. Cook, housecleaner, driver, laundry service, CEO. Thankless, endless, and pay less!

So can you blame moms for fantasizing, even for a second, that their hard work is worth something?

Setting aside the debate of stay-at-home versus working moms, what if those late nights cradling a feverish child counted as overtime? The yogurt eaten with one hand while driving your kid to soccer practice counted as a missed meal break? Bedtime stories meant your day care teacher salary kicked in? And best of all, you got a raise with every new child as well as credit for years of experience?

Go ahead. Calculate your own mom salary with their calculator. I couldn't resist. Especially since you can actually print out a check to show your family at the end! You can customize the number of children you have, the number of hours you spend doing specific tasks. Then the calculator does the rest of the work, figuring out your hourly wage for each of those tasks. My annual mom paycheck came out to a grand total of $46,590! That's on top of what I make in my "day job" as a news anchor at ABC30. Suddenly I feel like my contribution to the household carries more weight. Wouldn't any mom get a kick out of being presented with a check like this simply as a thank you, acknowledging just how much work she really does? She feels valued and appreciated. Even if it's monopoly money. Which, by the way, is a pain to clean up.


Granted, I can't deny the intangible, non-monetary rewards of parenthood. Just before bedtime, my daughter told me she loved me more than anyone else in our family and our whole world, and starting tearing up at the thought of what would happen if I died. (She's an emotionally complicated child LOL) My fridge is covered in "artwork" expressing her affection for me. And this morning, my son was all smiles as he crept into my bedroom and asked to snuggle with me until it was "time to wake up." As I laid there smelling his baby shampoo in his hair, and feeling his cold little feet tucked under me, I thought... maybe I am willing to keep working as a mom for free.