POLL: Do you work or are you a SAHM?

Just wondering about the demographics of the posters here.

 

Just wondering about the demographics of the posters here.

 

SAHM for a year only. I am taking this school year off to be with my little ones. I'll return to my second grade teaching position in August.

 

I was put on bedrest September 12th and have been home ever since. The girls were born September 21st. I will be home until Jan 2nd, when I will return to my full time job as a first grade teacher. My SIL will be keeping the girls until summerbreak (June).

 

SAHM for now. Once it was twins, even a quick mathematical analysis supported that decision, childcare is just too expensive here (and we weren't going to do daycare unless we had no other choice, esp. w/preemies). So we decided I'd take a year to be a SAHM and then re-assess. That year is coming to an end, but the math hasn't changed, so at this point I'm going to stay home and look at returning to the workforce PT in the next year (with an eye to returning FT after that).

 

Stay at home mom here too. I have been out of work since November 05. I'm looking at going back to school to finish my degree.. I'm sure I'll go back to work someday possibly part time when all my kids are in school... I really want to be part of their lives and as long as we can make it on 1 income thats what were going to do. My mom was a SAHM and I thats very important to me.

 

I work full-time mainly outside of the home, although I try to work from home 1-2 days a week. I have an "executive" job that is quite demanding and requires 55+ hours a week. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), I make way too much money for me to quit and be a SAHM. If someone were to quit, it would need to be my DH. And we've seriously considered it! Luckily we found a great nanny.

 

Work parttime right now but will be a SAHM and full time student next semester. Next year in Sept I hope to be a full time elementary school teacher.

 

This is my second week back at work. My husband doesn't have health insurance and the COBRA payments while I was out were ridiculous, especially with only one salary coming in.... so there was really no choice in the matter.

I am so sad to be away from my babies. I stayed home for 6 months with my daughter, so this is especially hard.

Already I have found that I need more hours in the day than exist. I do not know how people organize their lives with several children. Thank God my babies are good sleepers! I feel bad that I need more sleep since they regularly sleep from 10-5:30. I need to start going to sleep with them.

 

I am on an extended leave of absence. I am hoping to return to work next fall. I am writing a proposal to job-share with my friend and teach 2-3 days a week in 1-3 grade. I am crossing my fingers but the district is laying off six teachers in January-Michigan economy is terrible right now and people are moving out of the state so numbers are down everywhere. It is really a scary time!
Jenny

 

I think all SAHM's are working moms!

I am a SAHM but watch my nephew 4 days a week.

 

A SAHM for 10 years!

 

Full time out side the home here. Like the other full timer that poster earlier, I too make too much money to quit. And I work for the state and have EXCELLENT benefits (paid $100 total to have the twins), so it just dosen't make sense to stay at home. My parents also help with paying for daycare, and we have them in the best one in the city, so I feel pretty good about it. I love my job as a social worker, and I love having a career and the sense of pride and accomplishment that comes with that. I also love being a mom to twins and think that I am doing a great job so far, so I am just fine with my decision to work.

 

Full time working mom but works from home 2x a week. I do miss my little ones during the day though. I just wish i can have the best of both worlds, be with them the whole day and have a career at the same time.

 

I am currently a part time working mom. I work 3 days a week. When the boys were about 16 months old I went back to work. I got to enjoy the first year with them, and a lot of the second. I went back to work, more less for a little extra money, and just to 'get out' and socialize and interact with other people without the babies. They go to the sitters, and enjoy it, because there are other children there to play with. I feel comfotable leaving them because they are with my fave SIL the most sane one. If I had to leave them anywhere else, I wouldn't be back at work.

 

Amazing how many of us are SAHM's! I wonder what the statistics are for twin moms staying home vs. singleton moms? I would guess twin mommies would stay home more often, just because of the $ and logistics of taking 2 babies out.

Very interesting poll!

 

SAHM here. I was going to work part time but once we found out there were two, it was more economical for me to stay home.

 

I submitted a part time work proposal to my employer and they didn't accept it...so, I quit and I'm now a SAHM! I walked away from a lot of money...but on cold days like today, I'm so glad I'm home and don't have to take the girls outside!!!

 

I work outside of our house full time. But, my wonderful husband is the SAHD. He works really hard to keep all of our kids and our house in order. I wish I could be the one who says home but things just don't work out that way sometimes. I'm just glad we're fortunate enough that one of can be home.

 

I work full time as a third grade teacher. Like pp, my income is too much of our budget for me not to work as well as benefits on my med. plan vs. DH's. We are lucky that DH is a firefighter and works 2 24 hours shifts in 8 days, so he is home with the girls 3-4 days a week when I am at work and my folks carry the other 1-2 days.

Angela

 

I guess technically I'm a SAHM but I homeschool my children - 5 school age right now, from gr. 11 down to gr.2 - and that is really like an additional job, just unpaid! So I put my vote under "other".

 

I work part time at the moment ( two nights a weeks). I would love to go back to work full time but can not afford the childcare costs and can not find a permanent job lol Scotland sucks sometimes!!!!

 

I sell Southern Living at HOME so I work a couple of nights a week away from home. I had a full time job but decided to stay at home because of the money. I have been offered a job making more money but I am really enjoying staying home with my children.

Courtney
mommy to Noah, Gracyn and Garrett

 

quote:
Originally posted by Col:
I wonder what the statistics are for twin moms staying home vs. singleton moms? I would guess twin mommies would stay home more often, just because of the $ and logistics of taking 2 babies out.


Stats would be interesting to see. On the one hand, with multiples you're looking at increased expenses and, thus, have even less flexibility to go down to one income. On the other, as you said, the costs of childcare are that much greater. I don't like being down to one income and I'm not happy that DH has that much financial pressure on him, to take care of all of us financially. However, his is the higher salary (by a lot). Once we figured my salary, cut it in half to account for taxes, and looked into child care....well, I could stay at home and enjoy this time with my children, or, I could work and, essentially, use my income to pay for someone else to enjoy this time with my children. For us it was a no-brainer, but I recognize that it's a no-brainer for us because we have the luxury to make it one. Still, I'd like to see stats. With the studies out there on women in the workforce, I'm not surprised that there aren't stats specifically on moms of multiples, but I'm sure there must be separate stats for moms of multiple children, and their work status.

All of that said, it was also an easy decision to make because I wasn't in love with my job or committed to my career. I prefer to think that when I return to paid work, whether from the home or outside of the home, I'll manage to achieve a change in careers as well, to something that resonates more with me personally.

Either way, I'm SO glad that, here at TS, I have not (yet?) seen the usual bickering and self-rightousness that usually accompanies discussions on "working" v. "not working." I hope I never see it here!!

 

I have been home since April when I was put on bed-rest. Babies arrived in August. I will return to work end of Sept. after my maternity leave runs out. I am truly fortunate to have such good benefits to support me for so long without having to work.
Sept. I will return and spend lots of time crying I guess and checking on the babies by phone. I will then hire a full time nanny to be at home with them since day care here in Greece will not take them that young and I think at home is best for them at that age.

 

a Work At Home Mom
As a graphic designer and advertising photographer

 

Ive been a SAHM since our son whose 3 was born and now with the twins as well. Logistically theres no way we could pay for 3 in daycare full time and make enough for their to be a point. I can't rely on my DH work schedule because hes Army and when hes not gone his hours are at best 5 am till 6 pm...some overnights, some late nights, meetings, call ins to deal with problems ... and my profession isnt a daytime, daycare time frame job. We don't live near any familiy within at least 2000 miles so no other choice but for me to stay home.
I love being home with my babies but can't wait until I can get back to the work force eventually...
Also with DH being gone a lot with the Army for year + at a time I like to be at least home for my kids so they know both parents arent going to disappear sorta thing...they need some stability.

 

Brand new SAHM here

 

I am a SAHM. We moved to a smaller house in a samller community so I could stay home from my early childhood special education teaching job. It was hard to leave, I had been teaching 13 years and my assistant and I had worked together 4 years- a long time in the special ed field, but as the pp said the cost of 2 infants in childcare would have eaten my take home money. We have agreed that I will stay home for 5 years and then go back to teaching. The nice thing is in a pinch(thank goodness not this year because they are so small)I can always sub 2 days a week for extra money.
Tracy
1st time mm to Hannah and Jenna 5 months old born 7-12-06

 

I would love to stay at home with my girls, but the financial burden would be too much for my husband to bear alone. I am a 7th grade teacher and sometimes I feel like all I do is work. If it isn't meetings after school it is a ton of papers to grade. I am blessed to have such a wonderful job, but sometimes I just wish we would win the lottery.

 

I work FT from home as an Account Manager and have a nanny here during the day to watch the girls. So I am very lucky because I can pop in the other room and kiss them whenever I want to. I do occasionally travel (maybe once every 3-4 months).

Unless my DH got a tremendously huge raise that doubled his salary I could never justify quitting my job. I make great money, have total flexibility, and with all my seniority I have 31 paid days off a year (that doesn't include paid holidays).

So I'll keep working unless we win the lotto.

 

Well I put part-time outside the home, but I really work part-time outside the home and part-time at home that equals full-time. I'm super fortunate that my company is letting me do this temporarily, although when I'm working from home I have some help so that I can focus when I need to.

We're still working the math and seeing what we'll do next year. I think we're just taking it on a year by year basis...

I love to hear what others are doing.

 

replied as a work from home mom since i am a freelance writer ... but that is on occassion.

 

Im a SAHM and I am soo fortunate to stay home with my girls who are now three, and we're also expecting another! Just one this time. But I was also wanting to do something else on the side, without having the hours or the responsibility of a "REAL" job. And I just recently found the PERFECT thing! I met this mom at my girls dance class, and she too was a SAHM but she also did her own stay at home business, and was doing exceptionally well. So to make a long story short, I am now doing the same thing she's doing, and I am having the time of my life! I am so thrilled to have found such a wonderful opportunity. So now I am having my cake and eating it too!!

 

SAHM here, and feeling very fortunate to be able to do it! I am a teacher and decided to stay home until the girls start school. Ideally I want to be able to teach in the elementary school that they will attend.