I have been blessed throughout the years to get to be both a stay at home mom and a working mom. I’ve even been a work from home mom. I’ve pretty much done it all. I know people have a lot to say about which one is better and why. Really it’s whatever works best for your family. Since I’ve done both, I thought I’d give you my insight.
The first time I was a stay at home mom was for a year and a half. I only had my son at that point. He was I around 3. I had quit my job for personal reasons and then we found out my husband was being deployed. We decided being home would be best at that time in our lives. The second time was for two and a half years. I had been laid off and we just found out we were pregnant with our daughter. I had a hard time finding a job while pregnant, so we decided it was best for me to stay home. The last and most recent time was the last five and a half years. Four of those years were spent working from home (babysitting, doing odd jobs, network marketing, and blogging).
Being a stay at home mom has its pros and cons. Some pros would be getting to go on school field trips with your kids, not having to worry about child care, scheduling appointments whenever you want, and taking care of an emergency as soon as it happens. Some of the cons would be not getting any breaks or time to yourself, constantly cooking, cleaning, or playing, and feeling lonely. It’s great getting to be a stay at home mom, but is it really all it’s cracked up to be? I really enjoy it, but it is very lonely and that for me was the biggest issue. My mental health suffered.
Being a working mom too has its pros and cons. Some pros would be breaks (if you consider work a break), more money to do stuff like day trips and vacations, interaction with other adults, and better mental health. Some cons would be double the work (just because you work doesn’t mean you don’t have to come home and keep working cleaning and cooking), you have to find child care, emergency situations or sick kids could mean missing work, and possibly having a less than ideal shift (night shift).
Of course these examples were just ones off the top of my head. Ones that resonate with me the most. I thoroughly enjoyed both my time as a working mom and a stay at home mom. I enjoyed volunteering at the schools, going on field trips, being home for every little moment, but I also enjoyed making new friends at work, getting a break from my kids, and feeling like I am more than just a mom. I’ve been blessed to fulfill both roles as they were needed throughout the years and I will continue to do whatever is best for my family.
I know people out there really like to drag mothers through the dirt for working or for staying home. They say it’s so easy, it can’t be that hard, blah, blah, blah. Truth is, they are both extremely hard. I don’t think one is better than the other. You should always do what you feel like is best for your family, whether that be you staying home or going to work every day. Just remember you are a badass and regardless of what anyone has to say, you are doing what’s best for your family. Do you boo.
Sassy Mamaroo 