Here is an article I came around in Businessweek about women who had their MBA’s from Harvard and decided to stay at home after they became mothers.
It is true that you consider the investment you’ve already made when deciding to go ahead with your career, whether working for another boss or being your own boss, which I’d prefer should I decide to go back to working outside of home. At one point you have to consider how and how much you want to invest in your children. And this is not a simple equation. Not all moms, children, families and working and outside childcare opportunities are the same. So answer is really different in each case.
Working moms also provide other means of investing in children like living in safe and better neighborhoods, bigger homes, going to better schools and attending more activities. In terms of emotional needs, not all children are really emotionally glued to their parents. My mom worked all my life and I don’t remember crying for her, maybe because we had good really care at home, whether being with our dear nanny or my grandma. She was all hands on after she arrived from work as well. My son was very very happy under the care of her nanny as well. She was able to focus on him all day long, playing with him full-time, much better than what I can offer him right now.
I was lucky to be able to work from home after my son was born. I was also very very very lucky to have the greatest nanny of all times for my son. I could still continue to work from home but the burden of being a half-efficient employee and half-efficient mom became too heavy. Even though I continue to complain about being a half-efficient mom anf half-efficient cleaning lady+cook at home I had to try this for my own sanity.
All in all, I am not a hardcore advocate of being a stay at home mom for everyone. It’s a different scenario for every mother and every kid at every stage of our lives. We should consider the investment made in our MBAs, as sunk cost. The future lies in investing in our children.
You know, I NEVER thought I’d be somebody who would want to stay at home with my kids. I always thought i was a career woman who would be bored and horrified doing things like baking cookies and taking children to the park.
But … well … now that I have kids? I’d love to have the chance to stay at home. oh, and I’m a lawyer.
too bad we can’t afford it …
I wish we didn’t “have to” depend on two incomes, but we do. We did some calculations before I hopped off the wagon – for a short period. Unfortunately, our one income adventure is not going to last long either. 🙁