I understand that the opportunity to be a stay at home mom is not available or the best choice for everyone, but for us its really been our only option. We have a relationship of trust and friendship, while still offering me the time to establish my role as mom and authority figure. It also allows me the opportunity to know what she eats, when she sleeps, who she's learning from, what we need to work on, shapes or letters, numbers or colors, etc.
Often moms don't get the choice between staying at home or daycare, their decision is made by their fiscal means, in some cases we must work, but who do we leave our children with when child care costs so much? The demands and requirements of child care continually grow.
State and government legislation, licensing, insurance coverage, liabilities (all necessary for the safety of our children) make it harder and harder to find a good daycare with all the safety features that doesn't break the bank. And working at them pays barely more than minimum wage.
When we found a babysitter/in home daycare for She-she during my temping position she charged $195 a week. Since I was a temp and worked hourly and had no paid time off, when She-she got a fever teething the rules stated simply that she couldn't go to daycare, I still had to pay full price for the week (standard in the industry). Three days I was home with a teething baby not getting paid while the daycare was paid to ensure we kept our spot. I paid her more than I made that week, and averaged only about $50-100 a week for the the entire temping time. Had that position kept up for me I would have paid her wages for full time (despite the fact that She-she was there only from 9-1) with two weeks of sick leave and a week of paid vacation, which I was not receiving. The cheapest daycare I found was only twenty dollars cheaper at $175. None of it is unreasonable at $4.38 an hour, especially considering the licenses, the insurances, etc., but when you make $8 an hour and don't get paid time off yourself its really hard, because who wants to send a sick sweetie to daycare?
The US Census Bureau reported a rise of 22% of stay at home moms between 1994 and 2005. Checking in at 5.6 million women. (According to webmd.com link below.)
However the numbers indicated in 2009 that the number of stay at home moms had not risen any more.
So much of society and the economy relies on two incomes, and often when women do choose to "opt out" of employment it is women who have the intention of going back as soon as their little ones enter school.
The problem comes with the "can we afford daycare" vs. "can we afford not to work"?
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