Investing in Family: A Personal Story

Fifteen years ago, had you asked me if I would like to be a work-at-home mom someday, I would have laughed in your face. Back then, I didn't want to have children. Heck, I couldn't even envision myself married. I wanted to be a career woman, either jet-setting to exotic locations and writing about them or working as a translator for Fortune 500 companies. Honestly, I thought motherhood was for the birds.

A few things happened between then and now. First, I changed my major in college, setting me on a path to a liberal arts degree that I didn't realize could put me so behind the pack in either of my former dreams. Second, I met my now husband, and despite my adamant belief that "marriage was for tools" (that's college me talking), we legally vowed to love each other for better or worse, 'til death do us part. And it's worked so well for us, I think we might just keep that vow forever.

Years after the marriage train left the station with us on board, we still had no desire to procreate. Don't get me wrong: I've always thought kids were cute and fun...as long as I could return them to their rightful parents after a few hours. Kids just didn't seem to be in the cards for us, and we were okay with that.

But then I heard the tick-tock of a biological clock, and children's laughter became the sweetest sounds in the world.

Even so, I wasn't prepared to jump on the WAHM bandwagon. I thought I'd prefer to be a career mom, to do the daycare thing while I enjoyed adult time in an adult world. Unfortunately, my job was very high-stress and very low pay, both of which were strikes against continuing on that path. It actually made more sense to turn my part-time side hustle into a part-time job, to quit my full-time employment, and to forego daycare to save the cash. Doing so breaks even; the cost of daycare would have wiped out most of my income had I stayed in the previous job.

Only time will tell at this point if I've made the right choice. Our first baby is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. After she graces us with her presence, I'll be able to share more details about working at home while on baby duty, about the joys that come with the WAHM responsibilities, and about the challenges I'll face. 'Cause I know that there will be both good and bad aspects of working from home while raising Baby, just as there are positives and negatives to any situation.

My hope for this article and related updates is that we can open up a dialogue about the positives and negatives in all of our parenting/working situations, whether we balance working traditional jobs with family, working from home with raising children (WAHM), or raising a family without a second income (SAHM). We're all in this together, no matter what personal choices we have made in our work/family lifestyle paths or the struggles we may encounter!

How about you, readers? What are your stories? Your joys? Your struggles?

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