Well I am a stay at home mommy and I love it
My son is only 2 months old but I was a housewife for 5 1/2 years before that. But now my husband works from home so we both get to spend time with the baby and we LOVE it. I'm glad he gets as much time with him as I do.
I think it depends on the person, I know some people just can't stay at home all day, my sister is one of them. Me on the other hand, I love it and we're lucky enough that he makes enough money that I can afford to.
I know some people have no choice but to work and leave their kids in daycare but I just feel like someone else would be raising my kids. I mean would they be the ones that see him crawl, walk, talk for the first time instead of me? We always said that we wouldn't have kids until I was able to stay home with them, and for now that's the case.
My mom stayed at home with us and I'm so happy she did, I think that we're so close to her because of that. SHe was always there for us. Then again my husband's mother stayed at home with her 4 children and when my husband (who is the youngest) started school she decided to start a nursing career and did that until recently when she had to retire because of health problems.
And as for the question "what's better for the child?" I think it can be either. Some people can't handle setting around the house all day. I know that if we're doing this good on just his salary then with me working we would just have bigger, better, or nicer things for our son, but it's just not worth it to me to let someone else basically raise my child for me.