Stay At Home Mom

I gave up a professional career with a good package to take care of my kids. Friends and family were surprised and some even discouraged me saying it was a 'waste' of my education and it was better to leave the kids with a nanny. I am not against leaving kids with nannies. But the nanny must be someone I know. I didn't favour leaving the kids with strangers. After all, this person was supposed to take care of my kids' physical and emotional health.

I have faced a lot of negative comments about my 'career' choice.

"Why are you leaving your high income job JUST to take care of kids?"
"What a waste of your education."
"Are you sure you won't get into a depression?"
"Even if you can financially afford to quit, you should go on working just to maintain your network of friends."
"The kids will be fine with nannies (even if they are perfect strangers) after all so many other couples do it."


I find some of the comments hilarious. Motherhood must be the oldest profession in the world (as opposed to the other commonly known oldest profession!). And, I seriously thought that motherhood was supposed to bring joy and all all those lovey dovey feelings since we are always bombarded with messages on how wonderful motherhood is. So I was surprised at the negative comments? Or is there a secret I don't know?

Over time, has the job description changed from "bearing children and taking care of them" to "bearing children and then leave them with someone else to take care of them and only spend time with them occasionally?"

Don't get me wrong, I don't think there is anything wrong with leaving kids with nannies. But to justify that one should not give up a full time job so that one can maintain the network of friends, or to avoid depression, or just because everyone else does it? Hmm.....I am still scratching my head here coz I have yet to understand it.

So, before I am bought over to the other side and decide to go back to work so that I can KEEP my friends (although I am happy to report that no friends have decided to terminate our friendship just because I have decided to quite my job......so far), I will write about some of the pros and cons of staying at home with the kids. Maybe by laying down the pros and cons, then I will find out for myself if I should really go back to work. Good luck to me!