It’s hard to believe that summer comes so quickly every year. This year is bittersweet for me because my oldest daughter finished up preschool and is headed to kindergarten next year. I remember when she was a baby thinking about all the time I had with her before she starts school. And now it’s here. Sheesh.
I’ve been home with my girls since my youngest was born. She’s now five. Over the past five years people have said to me, “I wish I had the privilege of staying home with my kids” or “I never had the privilege of staying home with my kids.” However, I never thought of it as a privilege. I thought of it more as a sacrifice.
I’m not naive enough to think that every mom can stay at home with her kids. I know that it is very hard, and not possible for some women. However, I do believe that more women can stay at home than think they can. It’s not so much about numbers working out of paper and more about sacrificing in order to follow a calling on your life – motherhood.
When I decided to quit my teaching career and come home with my firstborn, it wasn’t because it was less expensive to be at home than pay for childcare. With a master’s degree, my income was enough that it would have contributed positively to our finances. Plus, my education opened up doors for me to work in other areas of education that earned more. But I felt convicted that the wiser choice was for me to be at home, and so we sacrificed that income to make it happen.
At times this added stress and burden to my husband. He felt the weight of providing for an entire family. It sometimes was a sacrifice of peace and comfort in our home. But we knew it was a season of life, and we knew that God would provide for us.
The first six years of a child’s life are significant. These are called “the formative years” because the majority of a child’s formative development occurs. But as is all rhythms of life, it is a season. Of course, motherhood continues past age six, but that doesn’t mean there will not be opportunities for work after these important formative years when children become more independent.
Of course many women stay-at-home throughout their children’s time at home and beyond, but if this isn’t a possibility or a desire, remember that staying-at-home can be for just a season. It doesn’t have to be forever.
For me, being home full-time will be for a season. I do not know what I will do next – whether I’ll go back into teaching or consulting or do something different – but I do know that it is a season.
When we made the decision for me to stay-at-home, we also prioritized what we wanted to do with our money. Obviously, everybody’s situation is different, but for us staying out of debt was our biggest priority. To make that happen there were years that we did not go on vacation. We did not have memberships to sports clubs. We did not push for the bigger house, and I drove my 2003 Toyota Camry with over 100,000 miles on it until after my second baby was born.
When friends would say to me, “I wish I could stay home,” I often thought to myself, “I wish I had your new car!” Most people cannot stay-at-home and continue an elaborate lifestyle of big houses, new cars, vacations, and name-brand clothes. Staying at home requires prioritizing.
When you decide to stay home with your kids, you can get creative with ways to earn a little extra money from home. I have always loved to write, and I now earn some extra money each month as a freelance writer. I also earn money from a direct sales business.
I think the misconception with these ideas is that they will allow you to make a part-time or even full-time income. And they very well could over time. But for the majority of people, this extra money is typically just enough to pay one bill a month or one extracurricular activity for your child. I think women get discouraged when they start earning money from home and it doesn’t produce what they thought it would or what they see it producing for other women.
As you can tell, I am passionate about moms staying home with their kids, and I think more moms can make it happen than think they can! My friend Erin, from The Humbled Homemaker, shares this passion, and she wrote a wonderful book, You Can Stay Home with Your Kids, to help moms stay at home with their kids!
What do I love about this book? It is packed full of practical tips and advice to help you make staying at home a reality. Each chapter includes an action step for you to take to implement the ideas Erin shares. There is also recipes, resources, and tools throughout the book for you to use including free printables for you to download from Erin’s website.
The chapters in the book include:
This is not a book to teach you how to create a full-time income from home. It is not a book that shows you how to keep your present lifestyle of two incomes while staying at home with your kids. This is a book that helps you sacrifice well. It helps you make the most of this season of motherhood with peace and joy.
You Can Stay Home with Your Kids is available for purchase on April 10th. However, if you pre-order it now you will receive these fun bonuses from Erin – Woven Heart ebook, Motherhood Art Print, 2-Week Aldi Meal Plan, and Bath Bombs and Fudge!
You have until launch day – April 10th at 11:59 p.m. EST – to order and receive these bonuses.
If you are a stay-at-home mom who would like more margin in your budget, or you’re a mom or soon-to-be mom who would like to stay-at-home with your kids, You Can Stay Home with Your Kids is for you! Pre-order today so that you can get all the fun pre-order gifts!
Yesterday morning I stood in the bathroom putting on my eyeliner. There wasn’t a little girl pulling q-tips out of the drawer or tugging on my robe begging for me to pick her up. I didn’t feel rushed from a baby sitting next to me in a bouncy seat about to get bored at any minute. Instead, I heard distant laughter from upstairs. My girls were playing – together.
“Has the fog lifted?” I thought to myself. “Is this what it’s like to even get dressed and then to finish getting dressed in one day?”
Y’all. January has been brutal.
This year I was pumped for the new year. I started planning early. Ordered my new Simplified Planner. Bought my Powersheets. Downloaded the materials for the Read Aloud Revival Challenge to do with EG. Chose my “One Word.” Thought about books I wanted to read. And wrote out a menu to start Whole30.
My five-year-old stood in line to see Santa this year, turned around and looked at me perplexed. “But Mama, Santa’s not real!?” she announced in a too-loud voice.
I stammered to get out the words, “No! Shhhh!”, as I approached her in case she decided to make her case further and I needed to cover her mouth. I darted a wide-eyed glance to my husband before scanning the parents around me to see if anyone was glaring back. No one was, but I still felt the need to say a quiet, “I’m so sorry” just in case.
Christmas is busy because it’s Christmas, but it’s also busy because around October I start thinking about starting a new year. For the last few months of the year I have high hopes of launching the new year strong. I think about what worked well the previous year, and what didn’t. And I try to land on one word to focus on in the year to come.
