i would choose to stay home--at least till they were school age. working from home might be an option, but that would just be a bonus--the goal would be raising the children.
once they were in school, i would like to work part-time. but i don't think my choice would ever be to work full-time while i had school age kids at home.
i came home to an empty house. i recall forgetting my key one time and standing in the rain for an hour and a half, waiting on my parents to get home (this was before cell phones). another time i cut my foot pretty bad before my parents got home and i couldn't reach them at work. i ended up walking back to school to find a teacher who could come stay with me till my parents showed up an hour or so later and could take me to the er for stitches. getting sick at school and not having anyone who could come pick me up... just so many memories from my own childhood that i wouldn't want my kids to go through. it did make me a more independent person--which is great. but it also taught me from a young age that i couldn't rely on my parents to be there when i needed them--which imo, is very bad. the kids were secondary to the job. this isn't the situation my parents would have chosen, but financially they didn't have a choice at that time. (not to imply my parents were bad parents--they did the best they could and i love them dearly! but i would want more for my own kids.)
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