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I am one of those women who would love to stay home with the children. Building a career and climbing the corporate ladder lost its appeal when I had my first child. However, as much as I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, I have to postpone my decision due to various reasons.
The main and critical reason is that my partner and I are unable to support the family on one income only. Although we lead a pretty frugal life, one income is still not enough to support the family’s monthly expenses.
We decided that it would jeopardize our future financial stability if I were to stop working at my current job unless there are other sources of income to replace the lost one.
For other parents, their reasons may be one or more of the following:
• They want to safeguard their careers and do not want to jeopardize their career prospects. For a lot of people, they have worked hard to build up their careers and letting it go is not easy.
• They are afraid that being a stay-at-home parent may result in boredom or loneliness. Yes, it does happen as I have heard this complaint from friends who opted to stay at home with their kids. In addition, feelings of low self-esteem may arise due to the lost career status.
• They hold a belief that they will be unhappy staying home and prefer to go out to work.
• They like the rewards of going out to work and the perks that often come with the job. In addition, they want to be able to socialize and apply their talents or skills.
• They believe that their children will benefit from going out and mixing with other children. In other words, their kids will improve their social and development skills as well as their communication skills outside of the home.
If you have faced a similar situation before, what was the deciding factor in helping you to make your decision?