Should Mothers Stay Home with their Children?

When I got married in '77, I wanted my kids to have the same childhood that I did, so we decided that she would be a stay-at-home mom. We had $12K saved up and that was enough to build a tarpaper roofed house on an acre of land. When the tarpaper went on the roof, we moved in. No windows, no walls, no water or sewer. I didn't earn the 6 figure salary that Yanchee talks about, very far from it. We just learned to live on nothing, made do without alot of toys and we never hired anybody to do things for us.

We still live in the same house, no longer a shanty, and our 3 kids are all grown up and gone and all are doing very well.

Shown below is our oldest.

We married in 1977 and I worked full time until 1985 when I had my first (and only) child. We bought a small farm in 1976 and spent our honeymoon here plumbing the bathroom and doing other general work. The place was an absolute dump, and has been a money pit for years. I doubt we'll ever finish remodeling. I gave up a state job and retired with ten years service. With my contributions to the retirement fund we were able to pay off our mortgage. I laugh now to think about it. Our mortgage payment was $185.00/month. We borrowed $20,000 and bought a house, 14 various outbuildings and 28 acres.

We never felt the need for fancy cars, or clothes, expensive vacations, and we always lived within our means. I went back to work very part-time 9 years ago and also have a small homebased candlemaking business. The only regret I have for not continuing working after our daughter was born is the fine pension I would have now after 35 years of State of Pa. employment. I'm glad I was able to be a stay-at-home mom.

Someone needs to stay home with their children. Women tend to be better nurturing souls than men, but I stayed home for many years and raised one of my daughters. I can not imagine what my life would be like today if my mom had not stayed home and raised me when I and my brother were young. She stayed home with us until we were well into junior high school, and then she only went to work part time as a teacher. Once my brother and I were well along, my mother went back to teaching full time. God has blessed her in a mighty way. She has her health, and even though she is officially retired, her income is far greater than most people that work full time. I know that God has blessed my mom for many reasons, but one of them is love that she showed her children. Please, if someone can stay home, consider doing it. The blessing for you and your children can not even be numbered!

She stayed home with us until we were well into junior high school, and then she only went to work part time as a teacher.

It's funny that you would write that. It's exactly what my wife did when the youngest was in 4th grade. And then only 2 1/2 hrs a day. The benefit was that she was always home when the kids were home and off all summer. She is still only working part time and loves the summer off to nurture her hundreds of plants and shrubs, aging parents and take care of a very grown "kid" at home....me.