Stay-at-Home Mom: Part 3

It's been a few weeks since I had a chance to blog.  Something interesting happened to me that I wanted to note about being a stay-at-home mom.

The last month when making plans with friends, talking to acquaintances at church, and at various places around town, I've told these people (mostly women) I'm now a stat-at-home mom.  Nearly every single time, the first thing they said was, "Oh, are you pregnant?"  I thought this an interesting response.  First, no, I am not pregnant.  Why is it that people assume that to quit work to be a stay-at-home mother does the mother need more than one child?  I totally understand that one is easier, and less expensive than two or more, but I think it sad that it seems to be the social norm (Mormon or not), that a working woman would remain working until she has child #2.  It's like unless you choose to stay at home when your first child is born, that you're expected to work until you have a second.  I wasn't offended or anything, just thought it was a weird thing.

The reason I want to stay at home now is that I feel that I only have a few short years before Cooper grows  up and goes off to school, and I don't want to miss out on being the one to teach him during these years that are so crucial to his learning.  I'll admit I'm not the most qualified to teach preschool, nor am I super consistent about doing it, but in teaching him life lessons he will learn the things I feel are important for a child to know before he goes off to school where there is peer pressure, and so many other outside influences.

Me "quitting" work had nothing to do with cost of daycare or anything like that.  Nor would that have been the case if baby #2 had come along while I was working.  There comes a time in a woman's career when she makes enough money to pay for daycare of several children, and still have it be worthwhile (from a financial perspective) to continue working.  This would have been the case for me.  Quitting work is actually a bit of a financial strain on our family, in that me not working means we won't be getting completely out of debt as quickly as we had hoped, that we won't be taking as many vacations, that we won't be buying a house as soon, that we won't have as much in retirement savings, that we'll have less to spend on things we want, and that we have to live on a strict budget.  But we do have what we need, and that's all that really matters.

And while I may be home with only one child, I find that I am no less busy than any other mother.  Something amazing about mothers is our ability to adapt to whatever our family needs.  Additional children means an adaptation to having less time for other things.  But to that I quote the Proverb: "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under Heaven..." (or something like that).  Right now is my season to love and teach Cooper, to spend one-on-one time with him, and to start really molding him into the man I hope him to be someday.  If/when additional children make their way to our family, we'll adapt.  But for now, I am a very happy stay-at-home mother of one.