Working parents...hmm?

I've worked in childcare for years and refuse to put my own son in daycare. I'll do whatever I can to stay home. We don't need the big house lol and there's plenty of time to work once the baby goes to school!!!

 

Area makes allot of difference. While living near O'Hare Airport I was taking home about $44k a year on average and could barely make ends meet. Of course I'm not always the thriftiest of folk, and my car payment was about $450 with another $150 for Insurance. Groceries alone would run me near $700 a month, much like my rent.

I think the biggest issue was that good weed is expensive in Chicago (At least it was for me)

 

I think it is a personal choice. I personally would not send my child to daycare. I also work in the childcare sector. And feel that parents should be raising their children.I would want to raise my own . if you think about a 9-5 job 5days a week plus the driving to and from that is a long time. My mother was a stay at home mom .She taught us a lot and I loved that I could always count on her. Even in my early years of public school if i was ever sick or hurt at school I could count on my mom. my neighbours also counted on my mom to pick them up if they were sick or hurt. they would also be at our house before and after school. They always said how lucky i was, and i always thought they were lucky cuz they got all the new cool toys. when i look back i feel very lucky. Its not easy. Childcare providers have little controll of your children they teach them how to count and share and to conform.
I do believe in playgroups however that are once or twice a week but parents go with their children . It is good for the children to socialize and form friendships as well as the parents to socialize and form friendships plus it is only a couple of hours (2). But then if you stay home and as a parent you are miserable what good is that to the child as well. so their are two sides. but to not stay home for material possesions , is silly and i think it is sending a bad message to children, that 'stuff' and money is more important then their time.

 

Well everyone is in a different situation, your friends could of gotten a head start in life from anywhere.

On the other hand you make a good point. I work full time and make around 60K my partner doesn't work and looks after our children. We have small house in a not so great area on the edge of town. We could have a big house on the beach in town if we both worked. However that would be difficult and it's not worth it to me!

I'm not a fan of daycare! A lady i worked with had a 5 & 6 year old, both her and the husband worked stressful full-time jobs. The kids go to school at 8:30am and don't get home from after school care until 5 pm. Crazy! They are paying $500 a week in daycare fees, that's more than my weekly mortgage repayments!

 

I stayed at home when my children were young. My partner didn't have the biggest salary in the world but I did things to compensate for the lack of money. Turned my garden into a vegetable garden with yearly rotation of crops to keep the soil good, made all bread and biscuits at home, knitted sweaters etc. The baking and knitting actually started to earn me some money as well. You do what you can with the resources you have and if that means you have to work, so what, each to his own. By the way, I still do all these things even though money isn't nearly so tight, it's become a way of life.

 

I am a huge fan of staying at home with children! My partner and I are trying and we are trying to live self-sustainably. We decided that if I stay home I will do other things i currently do buy expand, making soaps, laundry detergent, big garden, sewing, baking bread granola bars etc.
My question is to all the stay at home moms, do you ever feel any sense of guilt or down feelings because you get to stay at home with your children while your partner brings home a paycheque? Though I know parnting is a job in its self I was just wondering if there are any of those feelings, or feelings of being under appreciated because you get to stay home and your partner works? Let me know if at anytime there were feeling like that, and how you delt with the feelings or how long they lasted etc.

peace.love.light

 

Brad and I both work, but we are lucky enough to have very different shifts and get to be with Amber through out the day. I work nights, leave around 8pm, back by 3am, 5 days a week and he works early-leaves around 6-7 and gets back before 1pm most days, weekends off.
We don't make a horrible amount of money, but we pay the bills and keep enough just in case one of us gets canned or for special occasions as well as keeping some for Amber's future, whatever she wants to do with it. We live pretty modestly, but comfortably. It's all how you manage the books, we both don't have to work, but it works out for us, so we do.

 

Maybe ya'll should reach for better jobs... 40k? lol that's AVERAGE for a lot of places, or atleast 60,000.

 

We chose to keep my wife home and let her raise our children in lieu of hiring somebody else to do it. Now, while I agree with this for my childrens sake, I have seen it take quite a toll on my wife. My children have derived every benefit there is with the stay at home mom. They are wonderful children with fantastic self esteems and confidence. Their innocence is beautiful. I wouldn't go back and change it for the world. The sacrifices we made were many. This was a financial strain at times. We got through it. I think the largest sacrifice we made was made by my wife. I know this may be hard to understand by new mothers and whatnot but my wife gave all of her to the children and then some.

 

I would never put my children in childcare. I currently work in childcare and just cringe when I think of putting my kids in an environment like that, especially when they are very very young. It is really disheartening to see parents who drop off their kids at 7 am and pick them up when we close at 6pm. These kids rarely get to see their parents, and often have some serious anger issues. The only thing I can attribute it to is the lack of parenting in the home...we can only do so much for the kids while they are at the childcare center. What happens at home, we have no control over...

Additionally, childcare is expensive! I feel like parents could work part-time and probably save a whole bunch of money! The amount of time that these kids spend in childcare, is probably equivalent to the money that either mom or dad are making at their job, especially if you have multiple! Personally, I'd rather spend that time with my children. Values are priceless...and when your values and morals are coming from "strangers", you just never know what you're going to get. Kids deserve to be with the people that brought them into this world...not with people that are getting paid to watch them.

 

My kids go to daycare once a week when my husband and I both have classes on wednesday. They love daycare. There aren't any kids in our neighborhood. They made friends at daycare, and I arrange playdates with the other parents.