I'm a mother (who works) but I knew that figure was inflated. Here is a coumn by the personal finance columnist at MSN Money.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CollegeandFamily/P46800.asp

"Whether the figure is $90,000 or $125,000 or even $500,000, the numbers are meant to show how important is the unpaid work performed by a homemaker.Unfortunately, the statistics are codswallop.The economic value of a stay-at-home spouse is closer to $30,000 a year. Our society doesn’t place a high dollar value on a homemaker's work, and those who choose to stay home do so at their own economic peril...

The numbers that purport to show otherwise are flights of the author’s fancy. They’re typically constructed from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' average pay figures for a variety of occupations including:

Child-care worker, $8.91 an hour

Maid, $8.02 an hour

Food preparation supervisor, $11.70 an hour

Bookkeeper, $11.94 an hour

Chauffeur, $8.67 an hour

The reality is that many homemakers don’t have the skills of, say, a professional bookkeeper, a licensed chauffeur or a recreational director, says economist Evan Schouten, vice president of the economic consulting firm Charles River Associates in Boston and an expert witness in many wrongful death trials.

And families who lose a stay-at-home spouse typically do not rush out to hire 17 professionals to take his or her place, let alone employ them 24/7. They may hire one or two people, usually for 50 hours a week or less, and pay them an hourly wage of $10 to $15.

That’s why the economic payout is typically less in wrongful death and other lawsuits when the victim is a stay-at-home spouse than when the victim is employed. The lifetime economic value of a female homemaker who dies at age 30 is currently about $300,000, Schouten said, based on statistics from a seminal study in this area, “The Dollar Value of Household Work.”"

This makes more sense. These jobs are done 1-3 hour per profession at a time,a nd not up to professional levels (with the exception of child minder (unless the daycare requires early childhood certification) and maid ,(which "Nickle and Dimed" shows is actually done to a lesser standard when done by professionals than by amateurs).

The book "The Case for Marriage" lays out the economic cost of staying at home in hard numbers, as part of a case to support the concept, and show how it adds to a families' earning potential. The wife sacrifices economic value to add to her partner's value. Her replacement cost is limited. Most working families forgo some of the housework, etc rather than outsource it. Good daycare where I am is about $1200 a month.

This is dangerous stuff to stay at home mothers. They believe this stuff, put these skills on their resumes, and get smacked at the HR or employment office. It's better for SAHMs to maintain skills by working part time or getting certifications, so that when they go back out in the workforce, they will get a resonable salary.

If we want to value staying at home, give those families tax breaks, or monetary payouts, or something. Feel good myths don't help them pay bills, and raise unrealistic expectations.