*I have been thinking about my choice of staying at home with Jeremiah since it has almost been a year from when I was supposed to go back to work. Here has been my experience.
It has really been an amazing journey and a pleasure getting to stay at home with Jeremiah these last 15 months. I look back at all the stuff I have been able to do with him (play dates, zoo trips, Disneyland, beach days etc.) and I really don't regret staying home at all. Sure it is fun to volunteer every once and a while at Birthchoice, but I would be so heartbroken if I really had to go back to work. I remember all the times he first started to walk, crawl or say certain words and sure enough a ton of them were during the day time (which I would have maybe missed). I didn't think I would ever feel this way, really caring about whether I heard my child say a certain word or crawl but I do and I would be so sad if I missed those. Sure I missed a few things he has done....like make a "meo" sound for Kyle, but after Kyle told me he did that I almost burst into tears (CRAZY I KNOW!). You really can't understand until you have children of your own and those big milestones start occurring (talking, noises, facial expressions, crawling and walking). The first few months are difficult with a baby, it's a lot of work and not a whole lot of reward (no kisses, hugs, laughs and maybe a few smiles)....There is a lot of long nights, sore boobs and blow out diapers. If I would have chosen to go back to work after just a few months, I don't think I personally would have yet to understand how precious my time with him was. I think it was until about 4 months after he was born that I truly realized that there was no way I wanted to go back to work. I worked hard for my education (both ultrasound and A.S. degree) and I really put a lot of work into getting all my speciality Sonography licenses (OB, Abdomen & Neurosonology)...but nothing was more important than spending quality time with my child (which I will never get back) and quality time with my husband (which would have been limited by me working his "off" days). I am extremely thankful that we have made the choice we did for me to stay home and that God has provided Kyle with some extra overtime here and there to pay bills. Yes we have had to change our spending habits and cut back on certain luxuries....but are those things more important than my child being with his mother and father who love him the most.....NOPE! I guess for me, becoming a parent was a huge eye opener as to how selfish I personally was ( going back to work for nice clothes, going to work so we could eat out alot, wanting to sleep in all the time and going back to work so we could buy a home) and then I realized that my child doesn't care what I do for a living, he doesn't care what I look like, he doesn't care where he lives and he doesn't care what he eats....but he does care that I am there for him always....to laugh with him, to hug him when he is sad and to truly care for his well being.
*I totally understand that some people can't stay at home and some don't want to stay at home...everyone's situation is diferent, I am just speaking from my personal situation and how it has turned out for me.
I found these neat statistics
According to the Census Bureau, there are about 6.8 million full-time stay-at-home mothers nationwide, compared to 5.2 million reported in 2002. There are nearly 1 million at-home fathers.
Four Reasons Women Are Becoming At-Home Mothers:
1. They don't want to have latchkey kids like their parents did.
2. They want to focus on love, marriage and family, because life is short.
3. They're fearful of the world, and want to be there for their kids.
4. They want more time with their children.
("What Moms Want Now," Redbook, March, 2003)
1 comments:
I agree - being a SAHM is the best thing ever and I would hate to miss any of it!
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