I am just curious as to why women choose to become stay at home moms. Is it to provide a desired life experience/guidance for their children or because child care is unaffordable. I live on Long Island where the cost of living is rather high and have met many mothers who really had no choice about staying at home because of prohibitively expensive childcare expenses. Some would like to work outside the home, but can't afford to do so until their children are in school.

I just recently quit my job to be a SAHM. I had my son in day care for about 1.5 years. Our daycare was affordable considering how expensive some are. We can totally afford the day care and I really enjoyed my line of work, but I really wanted to stay home with my son. I got to the point that I felt that I was missing out on things. I felt stretched for time. I know some women like to "do and have it all" but I like to take life a little slower. I did not like rushing my son to day care at 7:00 AM then only having 2 hours in the evenings with him during the week days. When it came to the weekends, my husband and I would rush around the house trying to clean, do laundry, grocery shop, and find some time for a couple minutes of fun. We were EXHAUSTED!

Now that I do not work, we have lots more time for our family. I can get some of the misc. chores done during the week days so that my husband, son and I can enjoy each other during the evenings and weekends! It is wonderful! We are improving our quality of life. We have more time to relax, play, and even eat better quality meals.

Sure, we might have more money if I worked, but we would never have time to enjoy it as a family. Everyone must figure out what is important to themselves and how they need their time to be spent to satisfy their inner happiness. I can keep up with the fast paced world we live in, but I don't want too. I needed my life to slow down, so that is the route I am taking for right now.

I totally plan on going back to work someday. I might even take some part time side jobs here and there over the next few years. I am VERY blessed with the opportunity to have this choice right now.

I also made the choice to stay at home. I feel very blessed to be able to be with my kids and watch the progess they make each day. I also had a job for about 1.5 years after my son was born. My hubby traveled a lot at the time. My MIL watched my son, but took time off a lot which meant I had to take time off from work also as hubby was gone. To top it off, my son had ear infections and was sick often from that. It just got to a point were I needed to be home. It was not an easy choice, but it is one I do not regret. To be honest, we are actually better off now finacially then when I worked as I shop sales, clip coupons and do not use much gas. Now just keep me away from the sales....lol

To get to the point, I did not stay home because of daycare costs. I did it because I chose to. I am not sure I will ever go back to work full time since I would like to be able to always take my kids to school and pick them up. I hope I will always have that option.

I chose to stay home. I was a teacher at the time I had my first son. It felt strange to me to be with other people's kids all day long when I could be with my own child... teaching him and investing my time in him <<instead of other people's kids>>>

I think it's great if moms want to go back to work - there are days where I daydream about returning to a paid job. Then, I return to my senses and remember all the moments I'd miss if I was working. And, I have tried to imagine leaving my kids and I truly could not do it unless our lives depended on it. In 7.5 years I have never even been able to leave my kids with a babysitter!! I had one lined up once, then called and cancelled because I just couldn't do it. Time flies, and my kids are only going to be little like this for a short time. I want to enjoy all of it... at our own pace. I am grateful to my hubby for making it possible to stay home with my kiddos.

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"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." ~ Dr. Seuss

I changed my job to a Weekend Option line so I'll be home during the week and work every weekend. I decided to do this because my girls need more consistency in their schedules (used to work 12 hr days 3 times a week and would get home at 8:20 most evenings and just get to see them long enough to change into pj's and tuck them into bed). I'll get to drop her off and pick her up everyday and i can attend any activities I plan for during the week.

I'm a little unusual. When hubby and I had our first round of children, I worked a fulltime professional job. Thankfully, both of us had rather flexible schedules. If I had to constantly worry about clocking in or accounting to a boss about my time, I would have gone nuts. When the kids grew and all moved out of the house, my husband and I completed our plans - thanks to extreme frugality which we practiced when the kids were younger - and we both went into semi-retirement at an early age. As soon as we got word that our little one was in the works - we're now in the process of adopting her - I quit my parttime job. Taking custody of her meant a lot of travel, doctor appts, etc so working just wasn't fitting into our schedule. Right now I couldn't imagine going back to work outside the house, even when she is in school. I really liked my freedom and was busy all day long, despite the lack of a job to occupy my time.

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"I've been rich and I've been poor but independently wealthy is where it is at."

I became a stay at home mom for the experience of being home with my child, not due to child care expenses. At the time I quit my job, I was in a job that paid quite a bit and I actually made as much as my dh. But we were older and financially secure, and I had been trying to get pregnant for a long time and we just decided it would be best. I'm not sure either of us thought I'd never go back because I loved my job and travelled and lectured around the country, etc. But somehow the short while turned into a long time. But it had nothing to do with how much child care cost.

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As a side note...I often thought that though child care can be costly, I never felt that those care givers were ever paid enough!

I am (looks like one of the few) staying home because child care is so costly. When the last dd was born that gave us 3 kids, 4.5, 11 months and newborn. To put them in daycare meant taking at least 1/2-3/4 of my paycheck because there was two under 2 years of age. Plus half day for the older dd. THen when you account for gas back and forth to work, health insurance, 401 K, taxes taken out of the check it really was not worth it for me to go. Dh now has all of that in his check seem to be doing fine. Yeah money is tight but I do not feel like I am wasting it and am able to now enjoy seeing my kids grow up.

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~SONJA~

I wanted to stay home. I had a very nice paying job in corporate finance that would have left plenty of money after paying child care and work related expenses but I thought our family would be better off with me home. And I think I was right!