Contemplating the Stay At Home Option

As time passes I am more and more thankful and grateful for the opportunity to spend each and every day with my newborn son. If it had not been for the large layoffs at my former company I would be expected to return to work this week. Thankfully the fates aligned and rather than returning to an unfulfilling job I am currently staying home and enjoying the moments that make up my young son’s life. 

I already have a new job lined up, but as the days pass I’m not certain that I’ll be able to return to the work. My son means the world to me and if my husband and I can manage life on one income I think I would like to stay home with him for at least the first year. Of course, I realize that the first year may become the first few years, especially if we have another child at any point along the way. Let’s face it a part of me knows that a year will easily turn into four or five.
 
I don’t know too many women who have made the switch to stay-at-home mom. Most of my peers return to work a few weeks or months after their children are born. Some do it because they like their jobs and some do it because they feel they have no other choice.
 
Although I have not always admitted it, even to myself, I have always wanted children. I worked in daycare for years and cried for a full week when I left that job to head off to college. After three years in the same center, those children were a part of me and I grew to love many of them as if they were my own.
 
Now that I have my own child I’m not certain that I can drop him off in someone else’s care. Being on the other side of the fence I watched many mothers cry as they waved goodbye to their little ones each morning. Over the next week or so I hope to post about my thoughts, feelings and financial factors in this matter. I need to make a decision on this within the next two months so I really need to stop avoiding the topic and search for an answer.

11 thoughts on “Contemplating the Stay At Home Option”

  1. @lauren – A flexible schedule would be ideal. It sounds like you have the best of both worlds.

    @cellomom – I've been saying the same thing ever since I was let go! Had my employer not laid me off I would've returned to work after 10 weeks. Since they did I get a chance to step back and weigh my options.

    @Jane – I think it's great that you and your husband are trying to live off of one salary. I wish my husband and I had been more aggressive about that in the past. Although we saved a lot of money I know we could have done a lot better!

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