Why Working from Home is a Good Option for Moms

December 23, 2007 | No Comments

Working women have and will continue to face the dilemma about going back to work after the maternity leave is over. Going back to the rat race and keeping up with the neighbor’s living standards seems to have become the way of life. But do we really need the latest car or will our children benefit from the hi-tech gizmos that we may want to buy them is the question we need to ask.

Deciding to go back to work can be tough but many working women take that step believing that their family needs the added income or that they will need to reduce their standard of living considerably due to lack on an income. But before accepting this as the gospel truth for all families, there are some things that you need to consider.

Firstly, you need to assess the amount of money that you are spending on items and services that you have to spend for because you are working. Think of the kind of money that you will save if you did not have to pay for a day care center, gas and maintenance for the car or the daily public transport cost, dry cleaning for the business suits that you may need and some other hidden costs that you may incur due to the fact that you are working.

Before making the final decision it is a wise thing to do to sit down and actually put the financial numbers on a piece of paper. The other aspect that you need to remember while doing this is to try and envisage the amount of money that you spend on useless items. The guilt that you have about being a working mother may lead you actually buying toys and gifts for your children as bribes. What you need to think is whether you are actually doing them and yourself any good by doing that. With a double income do you necessarily put more in the bank or do you just spend it uselessly leaving less for future savings? This unnecessary raising of the standard of living is actually no replacement for the time that you can give your children if you decide to stay at home.

A couple that goes to work is continuously under pressure. With both parents in a high stress job, the children grow up believing that fast paced life that they see around them is the best way to live. Day care centers may take care of the physical needs of a child but the mental development and moral coaching can best be done by the mother. With fights and bullying sessions in day care, can you be sure that your child is getting the right guidance about what is morally right? Do you think by meeting your kids only on weekends, you can provide good parenting? Children need the love of a parent in their growing years and the quality time that you can give your child if you are working from home can not be replaced by any other option. Work at home moms can provide better nutrition for their children by ensuring a wide variety of meals that are freshly made at home rather than turned out from a can.

If you agree with all that has been mentioned above and are still wondering whether to give up your corporate career for a work-from-home life, then understand that by making the choice you will become your own boss, have more flexibility with regards to what you can do with your time, have better control of your life, will not need permission from anyone to attend that soccer match that your son is playing in, will not need to commute in the dreary office traffic everyday and have the thrill of having your own business.

Written by Radhika V. Rao.

Posted in Work at Home Moms