Saturday, April 2, 2016

Why I Chose To Be A Stay-At-Home Mom



I have been a stay-at-home Mom for 2.5 years now and with another new baby on the way I will be home for a few more years yet before both kids are in school for the day. When my first daughter was born I was working sales at a clothing store in the mall. I took my parental leave not sure at the time if I was going to return to work or not. I loved my job and the people I worked with so leaving was a hard decision for me.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that it is a bad thing to choose to go back to work while your kids are young. It really is a personal choice. What's best for one person may not be best for another and I had my own personal reasons for wanting to stay home with her.

Putting my daughter in daycare was not something that interested me. I'm sure the ladies there were wonderful people but I was worried about my daughter learning her morals and values during her most critical years from someone other than me and my husband. So came the decision to stay at home with her.

My husband works on a ship and so he is gone for 30 days and then home for 30 days, so when he is home life is great and I can relax. Having both parents at home 24 hours makes life with kids seem like a piece of pie, but then there are those 30 days where I am basically a single Mom which are more like cutting hard toffee with a butter knife.

One of the many pros of being at home with my daughter is that I have spent everyday of her life with her. I've watched her every little success and failure. The first time she crawled I was there, the first time she walked, the first time she spoke a word, the first time she fell...you get the idea. These are key moments in her life that I might have missed had I been working outside of the home.

It's a busy job to be a stay-at-home Mom. There is housework, yard work, shopping, cooking meals, making sure bills are paid and everyone has what they need and of course taking care of those beautiful little children. It's a full day and I can't say I get anymore time to relax doing this than I would if I were working and I don't get paid for it but I do get to spend more time with my daughter, which is reward enough for me.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that it is a bad thing to choose to go back to work while your kids are young. It really is a personal choice. What's best for one person may not be best for another.


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