Pregnancy tips The Stay-At-Home Mom Debate

I rarely sit and watch TV, but quite a while back, Oprah had a show featuring Elizabeth Vargas on whether or not women can have it all (or all at once). Elizabeth had her last (surprise) pregnancy in her 40's and decided she needed to cut back on her news reporting career. The show then went on to talk about women's choices about staying home with their kids vs. going out and pursuing their career and putting their kids in daycare.

Well... I need to put my two cents in here. This is one area where being an older mom is really an advantage. I did the whole career thing when I was younger. In retrospect, it wasn't really that great. It can be a cut throat world out there and, for me, it led to a stressful, unhealthy lifestyle. But what if you have kids and want to go back to work? I speak from experience here as the product of daycare. My mother worked when I was a toddler. I absolutely hated being institutionalized all day. I cried all day every day and never stopped until my mother came to pick me up - I was always the last one since my mother was always late. I felt imprisoned and very hopeless.

I think of all the attention I give my daughter now. I teach at a community college, but I teach evening classes when my husband is home. She's always with one of us. I wonder who tells kids in daycare that they love them?? Nobody ever told me - as a matter of fact I was a big thorn in the daycare staff's side since I was so upset about being there. I can't even count how many times I hug my daughter and tell her I love her during the day. I sit with her one on one and teach her everything from ABC's, 123's to how to have a tea party. She's so much more happy and secure than I was as a child. Additionally, the pace of our life is pleasant. I see some of these families get their kids up while it's still dark out. Their children get shuffled out the door and dropped off before they're even totally awake. I remember those days as a child. Not only was I cheated out of sleep, but I never really ate a good meal since it was too early to eat breakfast and I hated the food they forced us to eat at the "institution".

I was a very stressed-out kid...maybe that was the start of my fertility problems...I know it was the start of my negative impression of family life.

Here are some articles which present both sides of the argument:

www.cbs.com

abcnews.com