I’ve been home with my kids for the past five years. I worked full-time (other than maternity leave) for about the first six years we had kids. When my daughter was 9 months old, I left my office job and took a job as a daycare teacher in a large, very wonderful, center. Even though I was working full time, I didn’t feel like I missed anything. I saw my daughter, and later my son, often throughout the day while I was working. I could hang out with them on my lunch break, and if one of them got upset or hurt I could usually manage to pop down to their classrooms for some extra hugs. The income wasn’t great, but the benefits were. My husband has his own business, so being able to have health insurance, dental, 401k, vacation time, sick time, and all that, really helped us out.
When we were expecting our third child, we were also getting ready to move. It didn’t make sense for me to drive farther to work, and even though I had a huge discount on the daycare tuition, with three kids my paycheck would have been about $10 every two weeks. We were also, finally, in a position to be able to afford for me to stay home. I’ve loved it, no doubt about it. It’s nice to be here when the kids come home from school, to have long lazy summers, to be able to go to their school functions, doctor and dentist appointments without any hassle, and even to go grocery shopping in the middle of the week when the store isn’t crowded.
However, there are days when I get bored and really sick of housework. I miss having a lunch break! Now that my youngest is in preschool three afternoons a week, I enjoy that time to myself (when I don’t spend it running from the gym to the store to the post office and on and on). Kindergarten here is a half day, so I am waiting until he hits first grade. Then I will find a part-time job during school hours. I can’t wait to have adult conversation and structure to my days again. I fantasize about working at the bookstore here in town! I think I would go a little crazy staying home once all the kids are in school.