{"id":5751,"date":"2014-08-22T08:18:04","date_gmt":"2014-08-22T12:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/?p=5751"},"modified":"2014-08-22T14:53:48","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T18:53:48","slug":"why-i-stay-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/22\/why-i-stay-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Stay Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent report showed the rate of stay-at-home mommies is increasing and it is no surprise to me.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I am very fortunate that our family is able to allow me to be\u00a0a Stay-at-home mommy\u00a0<\/a>of my three little ones but it\u2019s not all by choice.\u00a0 I know circumstances are different for every family and what is important to one family is not to others but these are the factors that have led our family to decide it’s best for me to stay at home with our children:<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Even though I have a master\u2019s degree, because my background is in education (dance and early childhood) my income potential is barely enough to cover the cost of childcare for my children making getting a job not worth the stress it would place on my family (my analysis of income to childcare can be read at\u00a0\u201cCost of Care\u201d<\/a>)<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m an avid\u00a0breastfeeder<\/a>.\u00a0 I\u00a0 have chosen to never give my children formula and so this makes the prospect of being away from my babies questionable since pumping and bottle feeding is not always successful (though I know many mommies who have done so successfully!) and I am not willing to possibly sacrifice my goals or take on the unnecessary stress .<\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I want to raise my children.\u00a0 As an early childhood professional, I know the importance of the early years and I want to be the one caring for them, loving on them, guiding their learning and influencing their\u00a0moral and social development<\/a>\u00a0and this was one of the factors that led to our decision to homeschool<\/a> (even if we some day return to traditional schooling, that will most likely not include preschool because\u00a0I believe\u00a0good parenting is much more important than pre-school<\/a>)<\/p>\n

4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u00a0can\u2019t get a job<\/a>.\u00a0 Yep, I fall in that category of mommies who can\u2019t find a job.\u00a0 I was teaching ballet classes a few hours a week and was fortunate that most of that time was outside of hubby’s work hours so we didn’t have to worry about childcare but it certainly wasn’t enough to make a financial difference and every early childhood job I\u2019ve applied or interviewed for in the past two years has resulted in no job or a position which I am over-qualified or would be underpaid for (see #1!)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

5)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to spend all our weekend and evening family time doing chores.\u00a0 I appreciate that I can do the dishes, laundry, grocery shopping and other household chores during the day so that we can spend time being together doing fun things as a family when hubby is home.<\/p>\n

6)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I want my children to be able to do activities without it straining our\u00a0family.\u00a0 By being at home, I can decide when, where and how often my children get to do\u00a0extracurricular activities<\/a>\u00a0and playdates.\u00a0 If I had a work schedule like my husband\u2019s, my choices would be much more limited and it would take away from our family together time.\u00a0 We wouldn\u2019t be able to have weekend adventures or\u00a0daily family dinners<\/a>\u00a0because of the social and activity schedules.<\/p>\n

7)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to miss any of\u00a0the firsts<\/a>. \u00a0I want to be the one to wrap my children in a big hug and exclaim \u201cyou did it!\u201d for every first they have.\u00a0 It\u2019s called a first for a reason, if you miss it, it\u2019s gone and you can never get it back again!<\/p>\n

8)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I want to be involved in their lives outside of the home.\u00a0 I want to know the parents of the children they play with. \u00a0I want to be able to\u00a0volunteer<\/a>, help out and be involved with their programs, activities and special events.<\/p>\n

9)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I want my children to be my main priority.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want them to miss out on impromptu opportunities or have to miss things they are doing at school.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want\u00a0doctor\u2019s appointments<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0illnesses\u00a0<\/a>to be a burden.\u00a0 I just want to be able to be there for them whenever they need me.<\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

10)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I like my children<\/a>\u00a0and spending time with them.\u00a0 Do I\u00a0sometimes\u00a0<\/a>want to run away to an icy castle on top of a mountain sometimes?\u00a0 Sure!\u00a0 But most of the time when I feel that way I want to take at least one of my children with me. \u00a0I chose to be a mommy and I love\u00a0my mommy job<\/a>.\u00a0 I would not give up my days with my children for any job outside the home right now because children grow way too fast and I don\u2019t want to miss a second of it!<\/p>\n

Stay-at-home, working or working-from-home,\u00a0mommying is hard<\/a>\u00a0and often\u00a0a mommy’s worth<\/a>\u00a0is not plainly evident but there is no job more important than raising a child (or two or three!) and all it takes to make a big difference is a little\u00a0love and support for one another<\/a>\u00a0no matter which path we choose or end up on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent report showed the rate of stay-at-home mommies is increasing and it is no surprise to me.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I am very fortunate that our family is able to allow me to be\u00a0a Stay-at-home mommy\u00a0of my three little ones but it\u2019s not all by choice.\u00a0 I know circumstances are different for every family and what is important […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,8,16,17],"tags":[289,40,290,291,285,149,288],"class_list":["post-5751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-mommys-life","category-baby-business","category-breastfeeding","category-work-it-out","tag-a-mommys-life-2","tag-breastfeeding-2","tag-character","tag-family-finances","tag-homeschool","tag-parenting","tag-stay-at-home-mommy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5751"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5752,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5751\/revisions\/5752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}