The question of the century, SAHM or WM?

I could not do those heels! 

With Mother’s day approaching us, and the future on my mind, I’ve been thinking a lot about the difference between Stay at Home mothers and Working Mothers. The stresses that both jobs bring upon a woman and the differences between the two.

I honestly can’t find any statistics for 2009 after the economic downfall when families begun to rethink their finances and their future. How many mother’s had to decide to go back to work or how many have decided to weigh it out, hoping for the best. In my case, I’m looking for a little of both worlds. Working from Home.

The debate between SAHM and WM has been the talk for the past 20 some odd years. The economical standpoint of it all is mainly, can you afford it? Both ways. The cost of daycare has risen in the past 5 years, at an average of 300-500 dollars a week. Low paying jobs don’t give you an option of a daycare onsite, so you’re stuck with either paying for it yourself, having a trusted family member watch your children, or receive public assistance. The last, I’ll explain the uproot of Western NY in a bit.

The cost of commuting, business clothing, and other expenses weighs together on is it really worth it? For some people, most people, they have no choice. The idea of getting an extra 100 dollars a week after the cost of going to work is worth more than not having a paycheck at all. For others, it’s a choice. Going forth on their careers, maybe the children are in middle or high school where they’re more independent after school to take care of themselves. Or maybe they just enjoy their jobs that much, personally if I had my dream job as a journalist, I wouldn’t think twice about not going to work.

Then the debate on staying at home. Raising your own children instead of someone else doing it. I know this sounds harsh but the 9+ hours that parent’s aren’t around their children really do affect them in a profound way. The influence of the daycare workers and the other kids influence how your child is raised. Their ideas and philosophy’s bring on a different view of life other than your own, if they don’t co-exist, then this can be a problem.

I give major kudos for both Working Mothers and Stay at Home moms. In the 4 years that my son has been alive, I’ve been both. Working a full time job and trying to maintain a household is extremely hard. On top of that, my partner is going to school full-time. It’s all in the balance, and the time management. We do certain things on some days and other things can not be doing during the days that we work. Our social life and holidays are based on our work schedule.

Being at Stay at Home Mom, I had the pleasure of seeing my son’s first crawl, walk, and talk. The first milestones of a long life ahead of him. Patience and learning how to not go insane was the first things I learned. I couldn’t just not plan anything on a daily basis just like working outside of the home, I had to have a game plan or everyday was boring and no structure.

So here’s the question of the century. Which one do you prefer? Working from home? Staying at home and not working? Or working away from home?

Are there anymore options that I missed?

Also, I found this quiz to determine your “Mom Paycheck”. Don’t we all wish we could get this in our mail each other?