Stay at Home Moms & Dads ROCK!

I've been both a working mom and a stay at home mom. I can tell you from personal experience that it is much harder to be a stay at home mom, but it's also much more rewarding.

I owned a successful business until about 15 months ago when I sold my business to become a stay at home mom to my son (now 3 1/2 years old). When I was working, I worked usually 80 hours per week and very rarely saw my son. I'd drop him off at daycare by 7am each morning and then my husband picked him up most days since I was usually stuck at the office past 9pm most nights. I worked a lot of weekends too, as most small business owners usually do.

I began to notice that my son wasn't talking much at all. He was 2 years old and barely spoke but a few words. I knew he was capable of much more. But, he was one of 12 kids in a daycare with one teacher, so he wasn't getting the one on one attention he needed to grow and learn. So, my husband and I decided he needed one of us to stay home. I sold my business shortly after and have been a stay at home mom ever since.

Within the first month, my son's vocabulary had grown by over 500 words, his behavior had greatly improved, and he was a much different person. Now, at 3 1/2 years old, he speaks Chinese, Spanish, and English. He knows the order of the planets in the solar system, knows the alphabet, knows all his shapes and colors, and reads (just to name a few of his accomplishments). I know that if I was still working, he wouldn't be progressing and learning the way he is.

Now, I'm not saying that working moms aren't doing the right thing, because that's not true. Everyone has their own set of circumstances and what will work best for them. I just know that in our situation, with me working 80+ hours per week, it was best for me to call it quits and stay home.

Recently, I've seen television shows, news stories, and articles on the web discussing how stay at home parents are lazy, irresponsible, and stupid and I disagree! Stay at home parents work very hard! Contrary to popular belief, I don't sit here watching Soap Operas and eating bon-bons all day. Heck, I'm lucky if I even have time to eat or take a shower most days!

Each day I'm busier than the day before. I cook 3 meals, prepare snacks, do countless dishes, clean the house, make my husband's lunch for work, read to my son, change diapers, wipe boogers, find missing toys, pay bills, balance our checkbook, grocery shop, organize our house, run errands, teach my son anything and everything I can, give baths, and much more!

People tend to look down on stay at home moms and dads because they think that bringing home a paycheck is the most important thing. I can tell you that we are in much better financial shape now then we were when I was working. Even though I made really good money, we paid $700 a month for daycare, paid more for car insurance, paid more for gasoline and upkeep of my car, had to pay for drycleaning, had to pay for work clothes, and much  much more. Now, we don't have any of those expenses. We actually SAVE money each month by having me stay home, and enjoy the lower tax bracket since we're now a one income family instead of a two income family.  Plus, I'm able to supplement our income here and there thanks to surveys and money from sites like gather and cha cha. Even though I'm not getting rich from online earnings, it helps to supplement our income or pay off bills (like my surgery bills) so it helps our family quite a bit.

I know lots of stay at home moms and dads who work their tails off each and every day. They have made huge sacrifices in their professional life to give their families the things they need. Stay at home moms and dads should be commended and appreciated!