Can we have it all, a career, the good life, and parenthood? Can parents afford to raise a child on one income? How can new parents decide whether to work or stay home with the kids?
Kristie Tamsevicius, author of I Love My Life: A Mom’s Guide to Working from Home, says that the answer has never been more precise. Since September 11, 2001, people are going back to basics. Fueled by frustration with their current work environments, people long to spend more time at home with their families. This desire has led millions of parents to say “goodbye” to corporate and “hello” to a work-at-home career.
One of the most challenging decisions you face is staying at home with the children or going back to work. Financially, it can be not easy to make the switch to living on one income. Additionally, women often wonder if they are sacrificing their careers by choosing to stay at home.
New parents are overwhelmed with the onslaught of the child relating expenses, including baby gear, clothing, diapers, and medical bills. In fact, raising a child from birth to age 2 costs $13,400 a year. So how can families cut back and survive on less income and endure these added costs?
The common myth is that if both parents work, there will be more income.
But this is not always the case. If you add up the numbers, often, you are not getting ahead financially by working and paying for daycare.
When you subtract childcare costs, auto expenses, dry cleaning, and other work-related expenses, many find they are not making that much by working outside the home.
The truth is that we trap ourselves into thinking that we need two incomes to survive. Whether it’s keeping up with the Jones or buying high-tech toys, it seems when you make more, you spend more. When our income increases, instead of banking the difference, we raise our standard of living.
The pressures of dual working parents can weigh on a family. Sometimes working mothers feel guilty for wanting to work away from home. Then there is the issue of balance. Juggling the pressures of work and home can be challenging. Trying to make sure meals are made, the house is clean, and the bills get paid between running kids to soccer practice is trying.
We have to ask what we are teaching our kids with our busy lifestyles.
Are we teaching our kids that this pace of life is normal and desirable?
Will daycare teach your kids the values you would?
No one will love and teach your kids the way you do. Daycare will attend to the physical needs of your child, but are they teaching your kids the values and lessons you would? In situations such as the bullying kid at daycare or the fight over toys, is the daycare provider shaping your child’s character the same way you would?
Children reap vast benefits when moms stay at home. Mothers can provide care with love. They are there to discipline and teach proper behaviours. While spending quality time, mothers can develop a lasting bond with their children. This bond creates a stronger sense of security and well-being within the child.
Kids enjoy other benefits too. Moms can provide a more varied diet and better nutrition. And children receive more mental stimulation when one on one sharing time with mom.
How can moms learn to live on less and stay at home with the kids?
Shopping smart saves money. Thrifty-minded moms cut coupons, look for sales, and buy in bulk to cut costs. Many families are learning that a simple life beats the pressures of trying to keep up. By setting a lower standard of living, you can learn to enjoy simple things. You teach your children that wealth lies not in material possessions but in the joy of living.
Working from home can help parents to have the best of both worlds:
precious family time and extra income.
Statistics show that today’s working people are eager to say “goodbye” to corporate life and say “hello” to the joys of working from home.
Working from home offers various benefits, including being your boss, flexibility, the ultimate office space, no commute, increased control, time with family, and the sheer joy of designing your own business and life.
Entrepreneurship offers thrills, stimulation, challenge, and a new powerful choice-driven reality. It provides an option for single parents and families struggling with family and career concerns. It’s allowing dads to quit the 9-to-5 grind and stay at home with the kids.
It’s providing a new chance for people who have been laid off or kicked out of the corporate system. It’s providing a unique income-earning opportunity for people who can’t live on their retirement funds alone.
At-home careers offer an income for people with disabilities who have trouble finding jobs in the traditional workplace.
So realize that as a parent, now you don’t have to decide to work or stay at home; you can have both: a career and time with your kids.
Are you a working mom? How you are managing between your work and caring of your children?
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This article is well articulated!
It is true that two incomes are not always needed to run the family and a capable person managing the home front in the most efficient manner can do wonders for the family and the kids. I have personally been through all the rigours as I quit my decent govt job of central excise inspector 22 years ago so that I could take care of family. As a result my husband could move up the career ladder and I could also monitor the education of both my children well. They both did exceedingly well and are well placed in their respective careers. However at the end of the day I do feel I am left with less choices of my own and also many a time I feel that I have not optimised on my abilities. My mom herself compares me to my more career successful sister and laments that I have not done enough. So there are pros and cons. My two cents
quite interesting… I also left my 9-5 white collar job to look after my family.. Slowly I started my own venture company..after lots of pros n
confirm today I am successful entrepreneur in my field ..
Well articulated. I probably would have agreed with author’s point of view had it been balanced between the roles of a mom and a dad. If it is not a single parent household usually there is a mom and a dad in the equation. One parent staying home for a period of time , until the child can go to day care is probably an option albeit a privileged one. The fundamental thing I disagree with in this article is where the author says that mom can take care of the kids better, moms can provide better diets. In this article, It may or may not be in comparison to what dads can do and perhaps the article is talking about parents vs. daycares ability to care for kids. However the language suggests ‘mom’ and that is what I disagree with. While it is the norm in most households it also plays into the stereotypical gender roles. In the times we are in and the century we are in, I strongly believe it is time to normalise dad’s contribution. The article raises the question of what are we teaching kids with the busy lifestyle. I don’t know about most but I am trying to teach my daughter the work ethic and to be independent. I am also teaching her ambition is not wrong. I strongly believe that we glorify a mother’s sacrifice to the extent that we in our generation as well aspire to that sacrifice. I would rather my daughter aspire to ambition, and invest in her success first and do not subscribe to the philosophy of my kids success is my success. I will be a very proud mom if my daughter is successful and will do everything in my power to support her. I will also be equally proud of my success.
Additionally there are many a times that a two income house hold is a necessity out of financial obligations and the responsibilities of extended family. There are other things such as entrepreneurship that this article talks about that I don’t have experience in and will not comment. But gender roles and stereotyping them is the issue that I chose to address with my comment.
Can you please again read the article as it has been modified