Will you be a SAHM or keep working?

[babyzoe]

When I have my first child, I can totally see myself staying home with the baby and having "free time" (right now it seems like I'm always at the office), but then again, I have a really great job, so I could be okay with being a full-time worker and full-time mom. Can't really decide what I want to do yet. What about everyone else, what are your plans for when after baby comes (however long that may be)?

 

[MrsAgar]

I am a stay at home mom right now and I love it! I'm so thankful I don't have to work.

 

[MrsGruffalo]

I'd love to be a SAHM, but we won't be able to afford it. I earn more than my husband, so if either of us drop our hours permanently, it'll have to be him, sadly...

 

[Beccaboop]

I'm hoping to be a stay at home mum but we're quite lucky my husband has a good job and we should be able to manage with me being out of work!!

 

[NurseSooz]

My husband is on minimum wage and I'm a nurse so I can't not work full time =(

 

[HazzaB]

If everything goes to plan I am going to be a SAHM.

 

[SabrinaKat]

SAHM! My OH has a decent job and if I get bored, can do one-to-one tutorials in English, exams, etc.....

best wishes

 

[MindUtopia]

I'm a doctoral student (on year 3 of 6 of my degree), so I work from home at the moment and will be until my research is finished in another 3 years or so. This is one of the reasons my husband and I want to start TTC in the spring because we know it gives us those years when I have a lot more flexibility in where and when I work. Though I don't make a lot, it takes some of the pressure off us financially if we can avoid paying for childcare for as long as possible since I'm already at home. I do have to travel, and will have to be away for several weeks to a month or more at a time. But since most of my travel is back to the U.S. (where I have family who would LOVE to see us), the baby will be fairly portable while I am breastfeeding. We realize it's a luxury to have this sort of situation that gives us the best of both worlds, which is why we are TTC soon so we can take advantage of it. If we could afford it after I finish this research project, I would be happy to work part-time until our kids are into preschool all day, but in the end I definitely want to be back to working since I like what I do. Plus, just working from home, I feel I'm losing my mind a bit somedays! I don't think I could do this forever.

 

[jenwantsababy]

i'm a teacher and my husband is a chiropractor so it will work for me to stay at home for a while. but we have a pretty big mortgage (it equals what i make each month) and a lot of expenses, so i will most likely have to work part time (unless we cut back a lot). we are looking into things i could do out of the home, like doing online work for a school, nannying another child, or tutoring. if i went back to work at the job i have now, i would be working about half the hours and i would still have to pay the cost of full-time tuition (even if i only had the child there part-time while i was working). so it doesn't make economic sense to stay there, unfortunately.

 

[UC J]

I stayed at home for 18months with my first child but i went back to work when he started going to a private school, we were planning for me to stop working again when my daughter came , but my mother in law offered to take care of her in our house until she is old of enough to join her brother.

 

[Mrs Eleflump]

I earn more than my husband so I will have to go back full-time after maternity leave. He will be the one to cut his hours down if any hours need cutting down.

 

[saphiresky]

I'm not sure yet, still waiting on a TTC date... but in my hypothetical future I imagine I will have to go back to work likely fulltime.... I certainly dont earn as much as my husband, but we share halves in the house costs etc currently. My only trouble would be wat to do with the child when we're at work - my family lives in halfway on the other side of the world, so wont get any help from them in childcare. I doubt husbands family will offer... but you never know what might happen when we announce Im pregnant one day. We will have children one day either way and get to these obstacles when they show up.

 

[Pearls18]

I'm a working mum and I love it. I love going to work and having my 'me' time and coming home to play with my gorgeous boy. I work because I love my job, and I like having 2 incomes coming in so we can have the lifestyle we want. I HATE the expression "full time mum" I scowl the second I hear it, I am a full time mum because I think about my son constantly, everything I do I do for him, I do all the house work, all the cooking, and raise him to the best of my ability...I just happen to work 37 hours a week also! (Don't get me wrong I know being a SAHM is bloody hard work, but I am not a 'part time' mum just because I work )

We may be moving in a few months time to go where my husband is based (yay finally lol) so I may have to be a SAHM for a while as I look for new work, I'm kinda nervous tbh, I find weekends more knackering than work days lol.

 

[NurseSooz]

I've been longing for someone to say all of the above. Thanks do much

 

[JaneSharon86]

I think its hard to tell until you're there. I can't imagine being a stay at home mom because I get bored over the weekend, but obviously with a baby around I might be that happily busy and in love with my LO that the hours just fly by.

We don't have the choice unfortunately though as like NurseSooz I'm the bread winner on Band 4 NHS wage and my husband earns minimum wage.

 

[chickenchaser]

I will go back to work but only because I want to. I have worked far to hard and for too long to give it all up. But I may go part-time however, we will see.

 

[NaturalMomma]

I will continue to be a work at home mom. I love being home with my kids and I also homeschool.

 

[Mrs Eleflump]

I'm a working mum and I love it. I love going to work and having my 'me' time and coming home to play with my gorgeous boy. I work because I love my job, and I like having 2 incomes coming in so we can have the lifestyle we want. I HATE the expression "full time mum" I scowl the second I hear it, I am a full time mum because I think about my son constantly, everything I do I do for him, I do all the house work, all the cooking, and raise him to the best of my ability...I just happen to work 37 hours a week also! (Don't get me wrong I know being a SAHM is bloody hard work, but I am not a 'part time' mum just because I work )

We may be moving in a few months time to go where my husband is based (yay finally lol) so I may have to be a SAHM for a while as I look for new work, I'm kinda nervous tbh, I find weekends more knackering than work days lol.

I love this post. Yes, I'll be going back to work because I have to, but also, I really do love my job, and my career, and I don't want to give it up when I have a family. It is lovely to see that it is possible to balance working with raising a family. Also that it isn't wrong to do that, too! You get such negativity about not being home all the time when you have kids, but I've always thought that it is not the only way to do it...

 

[tuesday_]

I would love to be a SAHM... though OH is not supportive of it. He doesn't want me "just sitting at home all day" while he is out working to pay the bills.

If I get my way I will be a SAHM to my kids. I'd like to be a SAHM for all my kids until they are at least age 3.

 

[Pearls18]

I'm a working mum and I love it. I love going to work and having my 'me' time and coming home to play with my gorgeous boy. I work because I love my job, and I like having 2 incomes coming in so we can have the lifestyle we want. I HATE the expression "full time mum" I scowl the second I hear it, I am a full time mum because I think about my son constantly, everything I do I do for him, I do all the house work, all the cooking, and raise him to the best of my ability...I just happen to work 37 hours a week also! (Don't get me wrong I know being a SAHM is bloody hard work, but I am not a 'part time' mum just because I work )

We may be moving in a few months time to go where my husband is based (yay finally lol) so I may have to be a SAHM for a while as I look for new work, I'm kinda nervous tbh, I find weekends more knackering than work days lol.

I love this post. Yes, I'll be going back to work because I have to, but also, I really do love my job, and my career, and I don't want to give it up when I have a family. It is lovely to see that it is possible to balance working with raising a family. Also that it isn't wrong to do that, too! You get such negativity about not being home all the time when you have kids, but I've always thought that it is not the only way to do it...

There is definately a balance, when I went back to work I didn't find it hard and I felt so guilty about that because we are told we should feel terrible, our place is in the home.....especially as I actually started to enjoy work more than before having a child, but a big part of it for me was that I realised when I went back just because I had a child it didn't mean my life was over, going back to work made me feel like I was still living my life, I love my DS more than anything but I have my own life too and for me my job is a big part of that- now I have it all, a working life and family life, we can have it all, I want both, and I love both. I used to be wracked with so much guilt, then I realised that I was happy, DS was SO happy (he loves nursery and the childminder's, but he always comes running up to me at the end of the day!), so I believe for us it is exactly right. As mothers we will always doubt things we do, but as time goes on the more I realise I am doing what's best for us, and just because it makes me happy doesn't mean I'm selfish! My mum worked full time for nearly all of my childhood and I have nothing but wonderful memories of it and a fantastic relationship with her. If you're a SAHM good for you If you're a working mum, good for you there is no right or wrong, it's what you do when you're with your child that matters, not just how much time you spend with them.