And how busy are you?

I guess I'm in a bad mood, because I'm getting tired of being patronized…when I say I'm busy, usually it means I AM busier than the average person. But, being the polite woman I am, I just nod as the speaker tells me that they are just as busy as I am and so cannot necessarily understand why I've said I'm not doing this activity or helping with that cause. I'm not one to bother trying to argue. But, as mentioned, I'm getting a little tired of it so feel the need to vent. Whenever I have to argue something, I like to back my arguments up with facts. Next time someone says to me they're as busy as I am, perhaps I'll throw the following at them.

I have four children. According to Statistics Canada, only 2% of Canada's families have three or more children. And of the 12,437,500 households in the country, 8,896,840 were considered families. Which means that my household is larger (read:busier) than 98.5 percent of Canadian households.

But even more important than that, all four of those children are under age 13. The youngest is 3. Only about have children under 6. So, if you factor those two numbers, only .2% of households in Canada would be expected to not only have four children, but children under 6 years of age. So my children make me have less free time than 99.2% of the country's households.

I work full-time. 59% of Canadian women work outside the home, although 73% of mothers with children under 16 work. 26% work part-time. So, from the employment perspective, I have less available time than about 58% of women because I work full-time.

35% of households have dogs, but as a breeder I have eight. I'll go with 25,000 breeders in Canada, based upon the Canadian Kennel Club's membership numbers…yes, there will be plenty of breeders who are not CKC members, but there will also be many members who are not breeders. So, only .2% of households operate a kennel. That makes me busier than 99.8% of the population when it comes to my pets.

Few people have horses. I live with four. Approximately 90,000 farms have one or more horses. So, my horses make me busier than 99.3% of the average population. Or, if I just go with those who have farms, I'm still busier than 98.2% of the population.

And those are the things I'm responsible for, I haven't even started listing the things I do for leisure. But, now I feel better anyway so will end my rant. And, I'm not resentful of the fact I am busy because I choose to have all these things in my life. I'm resentful of people assuming that I'm making an excuse when I say I am busy!

At least I've got links to pages of statistics which will come in handy for my parenting course.