I'm a stay at home mom, and I have been for almost a year already (wow, hard to believe!). I did, however, work full time outside of the home (as a nurse) until my daughter was 18 months old. I personally (this is my personal opinion), do think that being a stay at home mom is a LOT easier, at least for me. When I was working full time, I would get up at 3:45 a.m., take a quick shower, grab a fast breakfast, get my daughter up at 4:15 a.m., dress her, feed her, rush to pack her diaper bag and get out the door by 4:45, rush to the daycare to drop her off by 5:15, rush to work, clock in at 5:45 a.m., bust my butt at work all day constantly running around and doing 1001 things while getting yelled at by doctors, putting up with lazy, jerky co-workers, imposible supervisors, crabby patients, then at 6:00 p.m., clock out, rush to the daycare to pick my daughter up by 6:30, rush home, change clothes, rush to make supper, do the dishes, clean the house, do laundry, run errands, do yard work, do any other of the 999 things that need to be done around a home in a day and then spend 30 minutes of completely uninterrupted, non rushing, totally devoted to her time with my daughter before she went to bed, then I would finish up whatever needed to be done around the house, then collapse in bed exhausted at around 11:00 p.m., only to have to wake up 4 hours later and do the whole hellish routine over again. Fwew! Makes me cringe just to think about that again - lol!
Now that I'm a stay at home mom though, I love it! For me, it is so relaxed and I can set my own schedule, work at my own pace (within reason), don't have to put up with crabby customers or patients, pick up the slack from annoying co workers, deal with a ton of paper work or meet imposible deadlines, and I am no longer confined within 4 brick walls as I was when I was working. A typical day for me staying at home is this: I get up between 4:45 and 5:30 a.m., start some laundry, make myself a cup of tea and plan out my day, have breakfast and read the newspaper (if one of my kids aren't up early that is). My kids usually wake up around 7:30 a.m., so I get them up and dressed make and feed them breakfast. During the morning we play, read, and learn (my daughter is 2 and she's learning her colors, letters, and animals and animal sounds), while she's having her playtime, I finish up laundry and straighten up the house. at 11:30 I make lunch and then feed the kids. After lunch, we run errands if we have any to run, or go outside to play or to the park (which is only 4 blocks away) if the weather is nice, or to playgroup. At 3:00, the kids take their naps which allows me an hour or two of "me" time, during which I catch up on a project that I have been working on, finish cleaning if needed, do gardening or yard work, or anything else that needs to be done around the house. At 5:00, I start supper while the kids are playing (right now my daughter is all about "helping" me cook... lol!), and when my husband gets home, usually around 6:30 or so, I set the table, serve supper and then clean up the supper mess and do the dishes. My husband and I then have playtime with the kids until their bedtime (which is at 8:00), one or two nights a week we have a movie night during this time with the kids (kid movies of course), during which we make popcorn and hot chocolate. At 8:00 p.m., we give the kids baths, have story time, and tuck them into bed. I then straighten up the house one more time before we go to bed and then my husband and I then have 2 hours of time to ourselves before we go to sleep.
My day as a stay at home mom is sooooooooooo much more relaxed than it was when I was working full time. I love it and wouldn't trade it. I mean, as a stay at home mom I'm always busy too and I really only sit down when I first get up in the morning during my breakfast time or when the kids take a nap, or when we're having story time or doing our learning times, but I can set my own pace at what I'm doing and I don't have to be in a rush to do anything and I'm always done with all of my work around the house before supper (except for supper itself and dishes). I love it and wouldn't trade it for the ratrace of working full time again. I definitely think that being a stay at home is a lot easier and definitely not as stressful! As a stay at home mom who used to be a full time working mom, that's my opinion anyways!
Edit: It's interesting what you say about the money thing - it's absolutely true! One of the reasons that I am staying home is because without the cost of daycare, the extra gas mileage, meal expenses, office dues, ect, we are actually bringing in anywhere from $200 to $400 MORE a month than we were when I was working full time and paying for daycare, extra gas, food expenses, office dues, ect.! Crazy stuff, huh?
Answered By: ~*Mrs. GM2*~ - 12/26/2007 |