Working or Staying Home?

HeartLikeMine3

I have a 2.5 year old and I stayed at home with him for a year and then went back part time. It's the perfect mix for us. I will likely do the same for this LO. I think staying at home full time is very hard but it's also not easy getting out the door one time packing lunches and bags and all juggling all that!

TunieBee

I have a 15 months old and work part-time. I will continue to work part-time, I may go back to full-time eventually but I love my job and can't imagine not working at all. 

adiaz132003

I will stay home. I simply do not make enough to afford childcare and still contribute to household income much and DH doesn't like the idea of leaving our baby at a daycare just for me to earn maybe an extra couple hundred bucks a month. He'd rather we not put away as much savings and be able to attend to our baby 100%. I also don't think I could focus at work. It's not a busy job and there are honestly days where I don't make a dime (I work for commission only) and I can't imagine just sitting at work waiting for someone to walk in when I could be with my little one.

alsbaldwin

I work part-time right now, but will probably stay at home once LO #2 comes along. I don't make enough to cover the child care costs that would come along with me returning to work. Even though my mother and MIL both live close by (they watch DS right now when I work), I don't think they'd be up for watching 2 under 2, and there have been enough issues that have come up with them doing babysitting that I'd rather be the one with my kids.

angbhylt

I am a nanny and am very close with the family I'm currently with. They have offered to let me bring the baby to work and will be setting up a nursery for when I am there. The best of both worlds for us, no missing out on first experiences or paying for childcare and I still have an income!

MDKC14

I was let go from my job when I was 6 months pregnant with my first. I just never got back into the workforce after that. Sometimes I think that going back would help us out financially but then I calculate what I would make on average and how much we'd spend on gas and daycare and we'd have roughly an extra $50 a month than we do now. Eh. I'm good.

little_bren

CourtJack said:

I have no idea yet. DH and I both have great jobs with benefits etc. I have the option of taking up to five years of leave at my job (only one of those years is paid) and I'd have my spot to come back to. I don't know if I'd take the full five or just until this one starts school - or any at all. It's really tough to say. I hate dropping my daughter at daycare every day so I'd love to be a SAHM - but I also know that it would be 1000x tougher than my day job now. Ack. So many decisions to make.

@CourtJack What do you do that you have a year off?! Are you Canadian??

woodmans+1

I'm a therapist/counselor in private practice, so I can organize my schedule however I want to. I plan to stop taking new clients soon, so over the course of the pregnancy, my case load will shrink. I plan to take off 12 weeks, and then go back but only work like 2, maybe 3 half days. My husband owns and runs a restaurant, so he works at night and can be with the baby during the 10 hours or so a week I plan to work. I just want to keep my toe in my profession and be at home most of the time!

CourtJack

little_bren said:

I have no idea yet. DH and I both have great jobs with benefits etc. I have the option of taking up to five years of leave at my job (only one of those years is paid) and I'd have my spot to come back to. I don't know if I'd take the full five or just until this one starts school - or any at all. It's really tough to say. I hate dropping my daughter at daycare every day so I'd love to be a SAHM - but I also know that it would be 1000x tougher than my day job now. Ack. So many decisions to make.

@CourtJack What do you do that you have a year off?! Are you Canadian??

lol. Yep. All I did was be Canadian

edit. quote box issues

Saracp78

woodmans+1 said:

I'm a therapist/counselor in private practice, so I can organize my schedule however I want to. I plan to stop taking new clients soon, so over the course of the pregnancy, my case load will shrink. I plan to take off 12 weeks, and then go back but only work like 2, maybe 3 half days. My husband owns and runs a restaurant, so he works at night and can be with the baby during the 10 hours or so a week I plan to work. I just want to keep my toe in my profession and be at home most of the time!

So jealous you can do this!! I made the decision to stay home this January when my DD was born. I don't regret it but I really miss my job. I had been teaching for over 11 years. Not only did IOve it but I wa good at it

But my principal said she would not to do a teacher share. So I took the year leave. Now that I'm pregnant with number to do in June I'll probably go ahead and take the next 3 to 4 years off until DD starts kindergarten. Then I will be going back

Knottie1438468013

I work as a bartender, server, and bev cart girl at a golf course... usually work 6 days a week. I do not plan on returning to that job because I'm extremely unhappy. Yes, the money is great, but it's only a short golf season here in Las Vegas. I'm also a Team Beachbody Coach and my team is growing every week so that I where my passion and happiness come from. I'll be a licensed real estate sales person in December and hope to work for a brokerage part time or give referrals and receive commissions.

woodmans+1

Sounds like a good plan! I wish more careers would allow for part-time hours though. I know so many ladies whose choices are only full-time or nothing.

woodmans+1

That was for saracp78, btw. I thought I replied to your comment, but it just went to the end of the feed

cattuccino

Right now I'm a SAHM. I think I will be until we're done having kids and we can re-evaluate. It's really hard and I honestly am still adjusting. I might still consider something part time, but I'm undecided. 
I also toy with getting additional certifications or going back to school for a masters or something else entirely. 

Being a SAHM allows me to day dream sometimes...

FWIW; working moms, I hope you don't take comments like "You can't get this time back" and "this time is important", "they're only little once" too seriously. I know you know that and I know you value your time with your kids as much as every other mom. 

ufsandra85

I was active duty military until a couple weeks ago. I think going to work was much harder than being home with my toddler because i rarely saw him and trying to figure out child care for dual military was a job in itself. I love being home but i do miss working because i loved my job. I just couldn't do it anymore and never see my baby. It was terrible. Now with a second on the way it will be even better to be home. Being home is awesome but working is great too.

TwoBadMice

I will be going back to work after my short maternity leave, we can't afford for me not to work. But I love my daycare and any moments that I may have missed I will gladly give up for my son as he loves his friends and his school. I could never have taught him as well as his friends and teachers have. And yes comments like "I just don't want to miss any moments" are offensive to moms who have to or want to work because it implies we are somehow missing out on something. So if you have to say "I hope someone dosent take this personally" maybe you shouldn't say it because it really dosent matter if you stay home or go to an in home day care or a center as long as your baby's safe.

ufsandra85

Totally agree daycare has taught my kid more than i could have ever taught him on his own, he learns from the other kids and was the youngest in his class for a long time so he worked hard to keep up. He is 19 months and days hundred and hundreds of words, probably thousands, uses a potty, knows a ton of sign language. I could have never done any of that on my own. I'm actually going to put him in part time daycare so he can still have that structure.

roper2617

For us I think it makes sense for me to be a sahm. I do work full time currently and will be taking 1 yr maternity leave. We still have time to decide for sure. Right now my hubby works a 28&14 schedule. Meaning he's working away for 28 days and only home for 2 weeks. If we put little babes in daycare we have to give the day care crazy amounts of notice if we want to pull him/her out for any period of time. It wouldn't make sense to have little babes in daycare full time when hubby is home for his 2 weeks, but also wouldn't make sense to pay for day care and not have little babes attend.

I think that everyone's situation is different and everybody should feel good about whichever decision they make and for whatever reason they made that decision.

GinnyJ2012

I'm a SAHM and have been since my first was born. it has its challenges and there are days I honestly wish I could head off to work and leave the boys with DH. Mostly though, I love staying home. I plan on going back to work when the kids are in school full time. It just doesn't make sense financially right now.

lm45678

Going back after 6 months for 2 main reasons:
1) healthcare
2) I think being a SAHM mom would probably be even harder than my job.

We'll see what happens though, DH is convinced I'll want to stay home once LO is here!

chesterdoodle

im going back to work after 12-16 weeks. Financially it makes sense for me to continue to work. Although my job is really stressful, not the work, just the people and the drama. But it's all about supporting the family. Plus I'm having twins so I am kind of glad that I will get a break for like 9 hours a day. Being a mom is awesome but hard - whether you work or not.