WOHM - Why do you work? - Page 3

[maighdhlin]

I didn't vote because I'm not sure I can. LIke some of the other posters, I'm afraid that if I get out now I may not be able to get back in and unfortunately I'm still paying off my post-college school loans.

And really, sometimes I think my DH and I see what we can afford and what we can't afford very differently. I think I could make a lot of sacrifices in my lifestyle that I couldn't ask of him. I grew up a lot differently than he did. Do I love what I do? Maybe? It depends on the day you ask!

Plus his schedule allows for more flexibility than mine so he can do some of the schedule juggling that I can't - if I'm going to continue working, it's just something he's going to have to handle.

But how do you all handle the GUILT? I feel guilty that I do work. I'd feel guilty if I didn't. If I make financial sacrifices to be with her now, do I jeopardize my ability to send her (and any future siblings) to college? What about retirement? But what about if she takes her first steps when I'm not there? What happens if she starts having separation anxiety? I already see a little bit of that on the rare occasions I have to work late a few nights in a row. How do you know you're making the right decision?

[Indigo73]

Okay, it is a financial necessity, and, yes, most of the time I do enjoy my job....but it is a job and not a passion. Still trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up!

I have to say ditto to this too!

I have the steady job for now. Dh hasn't had the best of luck sticking anywhere. So...

I hope to get back to school soon - want to finish my degree and work with my passion - literacy.

[mnnice]

I put other. I like being able to save for retirement, I like that my child spends time with other kids, and I know that I have up to date credentials/skills if dh lost his job, got hit by a bus, or other minor or major and I would need to support my family by myself.

[battymomma]

financial necessity, but i do enjoy it (most days...)
i was SAH when DS was born. i had been teaching and left at Christmas break and he was born mid-Jan. we lived in NYC in an apt and DH's job wasn't the most $$$$earning thing, but it took care of things. but as time went on, i noticed we were just making it paycheck to paycheck.
then i got preggo w/ DD. we moved to MN, to be closer to family and friends. living w/ MIL for a yr, we payed no rent and things were ok, except that we were living in someone's home.
so we got a house, and i went to work at a local childcare center one morning a week, bringing both kids and actually working in the infant room with DD.
then we realized that that extra bit of money made no real contribution, so i started working 20 hrs a week 3 months later.
except for HATING my coworker, things were better.
but then upon further financial reflection, it was still a struggle. so in Dec i started FT, in the toddler room, again with DD since she is now that much older.
i just had the opportunity to cut back 10 hrs and have a 4 day weekend, but then DH said he'd get a second job to cover the money we'd lose.
so, financial would be the reason.

[GoodWillHunter]

We need the cash and this job is going to pay for me to go to nursing school, so when I become a labor and delivery nurse, I'll spread the word about AP and EBF and CDing everywhere!!! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

[lilyka]

I don't work often since I had my baby but when I do work it is because we own a biusinsess and cannot afford real employees so when we are short that means me because I don't have to get paid. I do enjoy it and I enjoy being able to go to wrok and actually get something done and talk to adults but I think I would really resent it if there wasn't so much freedom.

[Patchy Dragon]

Well, I don't like the type of work I do but I have to work as I am a single parent~

Maybe one day I will meet mister right and find a better job!

[gossamer]

I WOH because it's a necessity. My husband is unemployed and has been for a couple of years now. He is an attorney and he had a solo practice but it was draining our finances rather than adding to. SO we closed that down and he has since been looking for a job. Unfortunately in this economy, his blindness has become more of a handicap than we originally anticipated. Of course it its ellegal for anyone to discriminate against him because of his blindness, but there are always a dozen other reasons why he wasn't offered the job. SO in the meantime I am working at a job I enjoy for the most part, but I would give it up in a heartbeat to stay home with my baby.

Gossamer

[remynyc]

definitely a financial necessity. i wouldn't say i dislike my job, but since having a babe, i'm not looking forward to going back. i'm a lawyer and it's pretty tough finding a flexible or part-time job. i'm not looking forward to going back to work, even though i enjoy the work, i would prefer to be at home for at least a year or two.

[Threefold]

It is a financial necessity for us, but I do like it. OTOH I would quit in a heartbeat if my dh could support us. Unfortunatly, my dh still doesn't know what he want to be when he grows up and this makes earning a steady income tough for him. But, despite this, I have taught part time (shared contract) since ds was 8 months old, and though we have not made it financially (amassed a good deal of debt and had to aks for periodic help from FIL) once my income was reduced, there is no way I could've taken anyother path.

[Ivanhoe]

Financial necessity but do enjoy my job. At least that's the option I voted... I don't know, my job is quite decent (marketing manager for a cable tv channel) but I would certainly enjoy more time at home... My dream job would be part time or from my house. I would love to be a wahm...but that's not possible when you work with a corporation

[mama2mygirls]

It is a financial necessity for us, but I do like it.

I've been a RN for the last 13 years. it's been one of the most rewarding things i have done with my life,( 2nd of course to my beautiful girls and dh) and sometimes the most stressful.
i enjoy working. i love being with my kids, but i enjoy getting out and going to work too.

and i've been part time now for the last year. which is new to me.
and i really like it, i will probably always work at least part time. i enjoy getting out of the house

Even when i was full time my schedule was done so that the kids were either with my dh or my mom, i'm proud to say they have never been to a babysitter or daycare.

[Alenushka]

I love my job

It is something I always wanted to do. If I take my kid out of preshcool, we can do wihout , probably. However, it would make it difficult to pay off my college loans ans I think it would be unethical to dafault on my college loans because my sons will depend on them too, years form now. Lucky for me, I was able to find a part time job. I feel that I have best of the both worlds.

[rsps]

I was able to go part-time when DS1 was 9 mo. old. Work is a financial necesisty since my husband also only works part-time and his job does not include insurance coverage. But I do enjoy my work -- I am a librarian.

[sisotowbell]

I don't know if I really count, because I'm mostly a SAHM and work just a few hours a week. It's not financially necessary - in fact, kind of counterproductive financially, because my husband cut his work time to 4 days a week and he earns much more than I do. But I really enjoy getting a little time out of the house and interacting with adults. Plus, I would like to qualify for social security benefits and disability; I have never worked enough to qualify. (!)

[becoming]

My reasons are mostly financial. Since my husband left, I have $640 of bills to pay each month and an income of around $1000, which includes $420 child support. I only work 27 hours a week so that I can spend as much time with my child as possible, so I only make about $580/month from my job.

I also like my job most days, though. I don't really care either way about what I'm doing at my job, it's just that my best friend since I was 7 years old now works in the same office as me, in the very next desk actually, so it's like visiting with a friend all day pretty much. And I can't see myself staying at home all the time. Now if I had the money to not work and still be able to take Chase out to do things (shopping, movies, etc.), I'd do that in a heartbeat.

I did stay home with Chase until he was 8 months old, though. It was rough financially, but I am so proud of that decision and hope to be able to stay home with all of my babies until at least that age.

[Katana]

I just went back to work outside of the house about three weeks ago, after being a WAH mom for 4.5 years.

It was for financial reasons, but I do enjoy what I do. It also helps that dh is there with my two kids while I am working. If I had to leave them in daycare, it would be much harder for me.

I miss the kids, but it's not as huge of an adjustment as I thought it would be. They do get to see dh more, which is great, so I think it's all balancing itself out.

My dream is to be just a SAH mom. No work out of the house or even at home. Just 'mom' work. Hopefully that is somewhere in our future.

[Danesmama]

I work because I have to (for money) and DO NOT enjoy my job.

Actually, I feel a guilty that I do not enjoy my job more. .. I have a master degree in structural engineering, but have found that I enjoyed the school a lot more than the work. I live in a small town and found an engineering job where I can work part time, so I should be VERY grateful. Although lately I have been working nearly full time and some occasional nights and weekends (when I can manage) because we are so busy at work and I feel guilty only working 20 hours a week when everyone else puts in a lot of time. I dread going in to work every morning, hate dropping ds off at daycare (in the year that I have been at work he has cried every morning except for 7 when I drop him off ) and wish that I could be at home to prepare more food and just be a better mom. I am exhausted and feel like I am being a bad mother (buying pre-packaged food and just not having the energy to be there for my ds). I often daydream about getting fired (which would be terrible, but would mean that I got to stay home!).

I know that I am very lucky to have the job that I do (usually part time, flexible boss and good pay), but some days I feel like going to work at my job is like trying to wear someone else's clothes . . . It doesn't fit quite right!

My dh is a medical student doing his rotations, so we have another year before he can start earning money. I am counting the days! We are ttc #2 and I am looking forward to the time when I don't have to work.

[veggiewolf]

I work because I have to but love my job

I was an only parent (divorced, DS' father is absentee) for the first six years of DS' life, and so I had to work to support us. Then, when DS was six, we met now-DH.

When we all decided (DH, DS, and myself) to be a family, we also decided that since I had the potential to earn more income (based on my line of work), DH would be the SAHP, and I would be the WOHP. It has worked very well, and I can say that I've enjoyed all but one of the jobs I've had in the past four years. So, we get the benefit of a stable income, and DS gets the benefit of having an at-home parent who not only loves him, but is "in tune" with all that boy-stuff.

DH does do some work from home, freelancing, but he considers himself a homemaker, and it proud of it.

[Paddington]

i do bring home the higher salary and the insurance is under my name but for the most part my dh and i are kind of equally split--we couldn't survive on either one of our salaries alone. i do enjoy work though and always have. i think that is from my independence.

i also have that fear of not working and then never being able to retire because i haven't saved anything. my dh's mother didn't work and is in her early 60s and hoping she can retire at the end of the year and my mother always worked and plans on retiring precisely at 55. she already has the years of service... she just needs to reach the age..... my fear is of the retiring thing as well as not being able to keep up with all the advancements and not be able to go back to work very easily.....