How did you decide to be SAHM if you had the choice?

I went back to work when my daughter was 7 months old and I ran a nursery she also attended. I have never fallen into depression like it, my husband said I was a shell of myself compared to maternity leave. So he decided to take a leap and apply for a job abroad which meant we could afford for me to stay at home. He got it and we jumped at it. Not only has becoming a SAHM saved me, it also saved our marriage! We are 10x happier now. I am going back to working school hours at the end of the year though as our little one is at school now. I have really enjoyed caring for the house, my husband, daughter, cooking etc! Xx

I honestly hate working, not because I’m lazy, but I always worked in customer service & couldn’t stand dealing with people. They would get mad at me for the most ridiculous reasons. Plus, I have truly loved being at home with my kids. I got to see both of their first steps & I got to see them meet their milestones & it has been truly rewarding.

He doesn’t want anyone else to raise our babies but me. He thinks I’ll do a much better job as the mum, at raising our babies than any stranger and he compliments me and my parenting all the time, and I’m truly happy being a sahm coz I have a car and can drive to see whoever I want, go wherever I want on any day I want. He’s happy to provide for all my social activities, whatever I need to make me happy. We do lots of baby groups mothers groups and play dates in between the groups. I’m a social being, so as a sahm I’m never actually, home. I get home at 2-3 every day to clean a lil (which isn’t really messy coz I wasn’t home to mess it up, just general washing and cleaning and scrubbing etc) and then getting dinner ready every day, hubby has his hobbies some days after work and I have my after hour hobbies other days. It really works here.

I decided while I was a SAHM that I would at least contribute by earning my degree along with doing things around the house so when they are both off to preschool, I have the opportunity to get a good job and work the 8hrs they are in school. We made the decision after I broke my leg and lost my job last year and the fact our schedules wouldn’t work well since we didn’t have a babysitter and couldn’t afford one. I do miss working but I do not regret it! It’s rough especially with two little ones but I get to watch them meet milestones and grow. It is exciting yet sad at the same time 🤗

Im sorry about your situation, it sounds tough and sorry for your loss ♥️ The only thing that really impacted mine and my exs decision was money. My job at the time was seasonal (summers) so i had no income during my pregnancy my ex supported me as no where would hire a pregnant person then managed to get in 2 months of work before i popped. Originally i was going to stay home for the first 2 years, then my ex would take the next couple years, ensuring we both got time with the kid during their biggest learning curve/time. Nursery would have taken my whole wage and some of my partners so id didnt make sense. But mental being a stay at home parent was difficult and there was a grant passed (thankfully) for 15 hours of government funded childcare for under 3s so that has been when i worked and me and his dad split so hes over there 2/3 days of the week all dependent on work

I hate working for anyone. I am More business minded than looking for a job. I have a breathing problem so it’s even harder to say I want to work for someone but if I wanted to id. I have only work one job which was when I was 16. Now I have a unisex beauty bar and a foundation.

I guess my other consideration is, every Monday we have a sigh of relief when sending the toddler back to nursery, its like we can rest finally during our 8 hour work day 😅 but i used to feel guilty for feeling like that…. But also if im stay at home all the time, we wouldn’t be maxing out our weekends trying to do it all so wouldnt be so burnt out on mondays i guess… my other problem is my toddler jist doesn’t sleep well, so i would spend a lot of my day time sleeping if i didnt have a routine job 😅 i need external motivation to keep a routine going… but i guess my kids are my motivation. But i wouldnt be able go drive them anywhere on this low sleep!

When I realised my job wouldn’t even cover childcare so as much as I miss the adult interaction I also couldn’t justify paying more than I earn to let someone else look after my LOs when I could just do it.

I remember barely seeing my mum and stepdad as a small child. They worked a lot and I was very lonely. In an ideal world, when I decided I was finally ready to have a baby, I wanted to stay home if possible. I got pregnant and had my daughter assuming that I would have to go back to work but I was lucky, I got a promotion while very early pregnant, and my mat pay was increased while I was off due to change in HR policy that was backdated. This, and overhauling our finances while I was off meant I could stay home which is something I never thought I’d be able to do, and I’m so grateful for. She’s my one and done, so I’ll never get to do this again, and work will be there for me when she’s older. I didn’t want to spend most of my salary to never see her, as we don’t have family support so it was all or nothing in terms of going back, part time wasn’t an option with my role. It helps that she’s a very chill baby/and now toddler, so our days together are fun and mostly easy.

Litrally the child cost alone would be my salary, not to mention added cleaner cost and easier foods to cook cost more. So we save money by me not working and cooking home cooked meals and cleaning and looking after the kids. My eldest gets 15 hours now so that helps with the stress of doing it all, all the time. I worked from home for a bit when second was born and will see if I can do something again or have a crafty Etsy shop or something, still working on the plans lol 😂 My first I was planning to go back to work but was so sleep deprived from having a tongue tied baby my brain was in survival mode, I’m glad I didn’t go back and I’m lucky my husband is well paid ❤️