Well, I think that I can now speak semi-intelligently about this topic since I have been a SAHM (Stay at Home Mom) for three months now. Wow, it’s been a full three months since I left my job. I really don’t like the terms SAHM or Working Mom because I feel that neither terms are correct.

SAHM doesn’t mean you never leave your house. Additionally, it doesn’t mean that you are sitting on the couch watching TV. (I never watch TV during the day though I would love to take a nap everyday.)

As for the term Working Mom, I think this falsely implies that SAHM are not in fact working. Anyway, when I come up with better terminology, I will let you know.

Both options have their pros and their cons. Again, this really is a personal choice. For myself, it was really hard to get up and go to work after getting broken sleep. As the title of my blog indicates, I am not a morning mom. Now that I am home, I still need to get up in the morning, but if both of my boys are up in the night, and they decide to sleep in a bit (it’s a rare occurrence, but it does happen once in a blue moon), I can sleep in as well. When I was working, I would have had to wake them up.

Parenting Tip # 6 Figure out what works best for you and don’t worry about what other people think (or what you think they are thinking about your choices). If you are a SAHM, great. If you are a Working Mom, that is great too. Neither one is better than the other.

The question is, which one is better for you and works the best for your family?

Currently, my oldest boy goes to daycare three days a week while my youngest is home with me everyday. This works for us now. Not sure from now on what will happen in the future. I am really enjoying being a SAHM now. I was very nervous about it before we moved to Omaha. There were a lot of big changes going on, and I knew this would definitely be a transitional time.

Now that it has been three months, I am going to surpass the longest time I haven’t “worked” in the traditional sense since I graduated college. I guess I should say that being a SAHM or a Working Mom is work. Being a mom is work regardless of what kind of label you put on it. My perspective has changed and even if I wasn’t a SAHM, I know that it isn’t an easy job.

Pros of being a SAHM (from my point of view):

• Spending a ton of time with my boys
• Organizing fun activities during the week
• Don’t have to deal or listen to any work drama
• Getting laundry, errands and chores done during the week instead of doing most of it on the weekend
• Don’t have to worry about what I’m wearing most of the time

Pros of being a Working Mom (from my point of view):

• Adult interaction
• Feeling like I am part of a “group”
• Using different skill sets at work sometimes
• Social network through work (coworkers with kids)
• Getting some errands done without kids is faster at times

I hope this post made some sense.  The boss had me up early this morning, and I have been nonstop all day. It still was a great day, it was just a long one.