Making my case for SAHMs

Readers beware: this one is gonna be bias. But it may still be worth the read.  I've been thinking about hitting a subject and this afternoon feels right (I got some of the saddest news from my BYU bf - see her blog link to the right, "darcee and brent". Its a reminder about the frailty of life and preciousness of family).

I'm making my case for being a stay-at-home-mom!

1 - From a mom perspective:

Holding your newborn and looking ahead at your baby's first 5 years, it definitely feels like good a long time (in the toddler stage days feel like years but years feel like days). But take my word for it, looking back at your child's first five years, it feels like the blink of an eye. Crap, my baby turns 10 years old next month!! This is my thought: why not step away from the workforce to be home with your little ones just until they go to all day school if you can't do longer? It might be 5 years, 7 or 8 if you have two or more kids. But what is that in the long run?  A drop in the bucket of our adult life, but everything in building the foundation of our little ones. Won't it be nice to know you were there.

2 - From a marriage perspective:

It's got to be proven that one's home-life is better/more pleasant/smoother when the wife is at home. She's got the daytime to do laundry, get groceries, make the family a decent dinner and teach the babies things like how to use the potty and stop sucking their fingers. She can pay bills, deal with doctors, home repairs, exercise, and do some stuff she enjoys, like socialize.  At the end of the day, the home is taken care of and that makes everyone happier.  A happy life is a happy wife. And if you're not happy at home? A change of attitude should do the trick. Remember, it's not forever and it is truly a blessing to be home caring for your sweet babies.  Find some new hobbies, make friends, develop new talents. Sew something! ;)

3 - From the daycare providers perspective:

Some may know that I spent a decent chunk of my working days employed at Kindercare. I love kids and was studying child development at school. I worked with about every age group 6 weeks - school age for some period of time and when it was time for me to quit when I delivered Luke, my attitude towards daycare was good. I knew I had been a loving teacher and I knew the little ones had a pretty good life there. But then  I had Luke. I remember going in to visit my friends and the kids with my new little baby and I was sick when I left. Suddenly the ratios (even 1:4) were too big! The babies spent far too much time in the swings! The two years old who was sleepy and feverish, lying on the carpet waiting for his mommy to come pick him up needed to be home, wrapped his mommy's arms! I felt so bad about all the kids who spend day in a day out looking at the same 4 walls - we called it preschool and we said we were keeping things exciting with the curriculum, but the bottom line is, its the same toys, same space, same faces day in and day out 10 hours a day. It gets old.

Whats worse, I mentioned the ratios, in Utah infants were 1 teacher to 4 infants. Two-year-olds were 1:7, 4- year-olds were 1:15. Even at 1:4, its the naughty/fussy ones who get the most attention. The teachers are doing the best they can and they have to tend to the ones who need it most. The easy ones, hate to say it, swing a lot. Or sit on the floor. Or play alone. Until someone cries, they're fine, the teachers have plenty of other ones to care for.

Super sad when you consider how different life is at home with mom.

4 - From a financial perspective:

I completely and entirely understand that most moms go back to work because they need to. But do they really need to?  Sell a car, drop daddy off and pick him up. Get an apartment/a more affordable place to live. I'm not saying these things would be easy, I haven't done them myself, but I can vouch for the fact that if you cut back and choose carefully, living on one income CAN work!

Many Mormon moms stay home. Many Mormon moms have a lot of kids. Many Mormon moms have no debt. Many Mormon moms pay 10% of their family's income in tithing every month. And it can't be the money we save not buying alcohol that's making all the difference. ;) It IS possible to live on one income and make ends meet. And our children would much rather have us over that new toy.

In conclusion (since I feel like I'm writing a persuasive essay now), I think it is safe to say a mom will never regret staying home her your babies, but she very well may regret not.  And the hard part about watching our kids grow up is there is no rewind button.

Do it! Stay home!! Our kids will thanks us for it someday.