SAHP Vs. Housewife Debate

I think this is like calling a flight attendant a stewardess. I think the term housewife is dated (but thanks to the bimbos on the "Housewives of......" it's back in style) but they are interchangeable. You are a stay at home parent in my book. Plus, I always thought a house wife has no kids?

Well, you are still a parent, and you are still going to be working at housekeeping tasks at home (as opposed to a job you can work from home and earn a salary), whether the kids are there or not, so I would still say you are a SAHP/SAHM. To me, the term "housewife" just seems dated.

How about "domestic engineer" instead?

lol you had lots of answers. I stayed home until my youngest was 5 and back then we didn't have the sahp title, that is something pretty new.... well new to us older women. We were always housewives.

Lots of people are very tied to their job title. So make up your own title if you gotta have one that is super detailed:

SAHPOSAC (pronounced Sap o'Sack -- which stands for stay at home parent of school age child(ren))

you're getting them to school, picking them up, doing their laundry while they're away, helping them with homework, etc etc. You're a SAHP. Maybe after they move out of your house and go off to college will you become a 'housewife.' IMO.

You are still home for your children should they have a day off from school (holiday, in service day, etc), need to stay home due to illness, and there to get them ready and to school as well as pick them up from school and the wind down.

I vote SAHP- you are a parent right? LOL

but seriously, what difference does it make??

Oh dear, so I've been a housewife for 9 years and all this time I've been referring to myself as a SAHM? Shame on me!

(Actually, I've been BOTH, for a REALLY long time, for a few years I was even a SINGLE SAHM (couldn't be a housewife right? without a husband?)

So yeah, my kids are 18, 16, 13 now, in times of financial crisis I have worked part-time (in school with the kids), but at this moment I am NOT working, so I'm a housewife? Which is ok by me, I'm a ROCKIN' housewife!
But my guy (who is not my husband) is only home on the weekends, so during the week while my kids are at school, what would you call it?

TEHEHEHE

:)

Interesting question!

I'll answer your question with a question. Do you still consider yourself a mom when your kids are in school?

Whatever your answer, that's your answer.

sahp for sure!!!!!!!!!

I would think housewife would mean no kids. Surly they have activies and such they do when out of school that you have to do and all the stuff that parents who work don't often get to do.

OH HECK YEAH!!!! Just because my kids are in school doesn't mean I'm sitting around eating bon-bons all day!!! I am a STAY AT HOME MOM!!!

If I chose to work and recruit people to bring in extra money while my kids are in school, so be it. I do not leave my home to "work"! I've got enough to do here!!!!

Oh yeah - I volunteer at the school. I participate in my kids activities in school as well.

I vote SAHP. Unless you are exclusivley doing things to make your husband's life easier when they're at school - like getting his pipe and highball ready! ; )

I would say for sure SAHP, not housewife. If you had no kids you would be a housewife but your mom responsibilites take over the moment children come into the picture.

It sounds like semantics. What's the difference?

Reading below: LOL, I vote for Sap-o-sack.

i think 'housewife' is quaintly dated. but i like it. my boys live at home but are both in college and no longer being *mothered* as they were when they were young. i only work a few hours a week at the moment, so i'm actually (in an amusingly 50's fashion) more focused on pampering the ol' man right now. so i suppose i AM a housewife!
that would have rankled a few years ago.
:)
i've got a cut out from housekeeping monthly on my fridge, detailing what a 'good wife' should do when her husband comes home (hushing the children, lighting a fire, having a hot/cold drink waiting for him, never impose upon him by listing your day's activities and grievances) that i put up in outraged amusement years ago. i've noticed that i actually DO a lot of that stuff now!
but not....you know....the icky parts.
:D khairete
S. the happy hausfrau

When I'm handling affairs at the bank, applying for anything, dealing with companies, doctors, or our oldest daughter's school; when I say SAHM they always refer to me as a "homemaker". So I guess I am a homemaker. Although if I could choose the title it would be, Home Based Project Manager : )

I think they are the same thing.

My oldest just re entered school so I am a sahp.

I see them as very similiar but if there were no kids I think "housewife" but if there are kids I think "SAHP". I don't think it changes when the kids start school fulltime because typically a school day is shorter than the work day and you are there to put them on and off the bus (or pick them up from school). You still handle their social calendar and extra curriculars. You still handle them during sick days, school closings, and doctors appointments. You are still handling things at home (cleaning and laundry) not just for yourself and spouse but for the kids as well.

I would still consider you a stay at home parent. I am sure you will still be there when the kids are sick or when they have a school function. I would consider you a housewife if there were no kids or if they were grown.

If there are no children home to parent I am afraid it seems to me like housewife. Sorry.

On one of the bank applications recently they insisted on calling me a houseperson.... ha-ha... I asked why not a house elf?

CFO (Chief Family Officer)...I actually put this on my last drivers license application! But it's true!