SAHM or Working Mom?

I have 2 girls, 5 1/2 years and almost 6 months, and I've been a full-time SAHM since our first daughter was 3. It is tough at times, especially because of money, but for our family it works. Our situation is a bit different, in that my oldest has autism and is deaf--we tried day care, but they were just not willing or equipped to give her the attention that she needed. In the end, it has been better for her that she was at home with me, and now she is in Kindergarten and doing great...the other nice thing with the girls being 5 years apart is that I get to spend the day with our youngest while our older daughter is at school. Eventually I will finish graduate school, but for now I am enjoying being home with my girls :)

I just found out I was pregnant and I plan to be a SAHM! I work as a preschool teacher and I dont want to take my child to a different child care center where someone else gets to bond with it while im bonding with other peoples children.

I was a stay at home mom up until very recently where I had to go back to work part-time. My daughter just turned 3 and was ready to "go to school" and talked about it all of the time. I miss her like crazy and I am so happy to see her when I pick her up from pre-school.

I think that a parent should really try to stay home with their children for as long as possible or until staying home with your child and taking them to play dates is just not enough stimulation for them anymore.

I feel like my daughter and I were able to create such a strong bond by me being able to stay home with her that she didn't even cry or anything the first day she was in pre-school. I think that she knows that mommy and daddy love her and that mommy will come back to pick her up when she gets of work.

I am currently a SAHM and I love it I couldn't have made a better choice!!! My daughter is 15 months and she is well above her age level!!! We do ABC's and 123's everyday and I try to teach her everything I can and honestly I would prefer her alway remembering that mommy taught her that instead of a stranger teaching her!!!

I do not like being at home. I love being out and about and meeting new people and having adult conversations. Also, I like to earn money, build my social skills, build my clientele base, and feel good I've made a difference when I leave work. I found that going to work was very beneficial for me as a person and me as a parent to my children. It allowed me to pay someone professional, trained in teaching, to teach my kids what I do not know how to do or have the patience for and earn money so I can do things with my kids like amusement parks, mall, trips and buy them things they want.

I in no way knock other parents for staying home...I think that's great too. Whatever works to make the kids and yourself happy.

We discussed it in advance and we decided having me home was a smart choice. When I was younger, I observed many coworkers return to work 6 weeks after having their baby, leaving infant care and discovery to paid help. Yes, they were earning money for multiple cars, boat, vacation timeshare, several tvs, but in the big picture -- who was cherishing their baby through those early months of discovery? Who was imparting who knows what values 10-12 hours a day to their toddler? Who was walking their child to the school bus and meeting the bus at days end to hear all the excitement?
In the grand scheme of things - how many quality waking hours did these coworkers have to spend with their precious children?
I didn't want that for our kids and neither did my husband. We made adjustments in how we budgeted and spent our income instead, so I could stay home (and had my career been the higher paying one, it would just as easily have been Mr. Dad staying home.)

Regrets? Perhaps I could have returned to part time work sooner, to model how to women balance career, hobby, aging parents and homelife better -- I'm doing that now for our youngest. The older two are grown and quite independant. At times I wonder if they saw me sacrificing too much of me for being "just a mom" -- that's not terribly healthy.

I think we all grow through different times in our lives, and do the best we can - compromise and balance and prioritizing are all valuable keys.