You Want to be a Stay-At-Home ParentWritten by Roger Sorensen
The subject of stay-at-home parenting is touchy, and emotionally tangled up in a maelstrom of emotion, advertising, society pressure, culture demands, and personal beliefs. When you have a mixture of that many ingredients swirling around, result is likely to be a mess unless both parents are in agreement. One resource for current stay-at-home and those who want more information go on Internet to www.athomeparent.com. There are other sites out there, I happen to think this one is a good resource. I’ll start by examining reason why many people struggle with decisions around one parent staying home with their children or both parents working and placing child in daycare. I would like to point out that due to limitations on size of this article there is much material and many factors that will not be covered here. This list of statements showcases reasons both parents work today. Unfortunately, many parents face this kind of pressure and a hundred more after birth of their first, second, third or even fourth child. How many of these can you agree with?A. You come from a home where both parents work. B. You want your child to have more material objects than you grew up with. C. All of your friends with children are working. D. Your spouse says you have to work to support family. E. Friends and family ask what you will do all day if you stay at home. Being a parent is a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week job. You will always be on call for your child, ready to comfort, feed, clothe, praise, encourage and love every time your child needs you. While working these long hours, you will receive no paycheck, no health insurance benefits, and no office conversations. You will soon learn that deadlines are for doctor visits, play dates, cups of coffee with other stay-at-home parents, and after school activities. Why do millions of otherwise perfectly normal, sane, career track minded women (or men because number of stay-at-home dads is growing), majority of whom are women, suddenly put career on hold for years and take on a full time job like I described? Where is sense in subjecting yourself to endless hours of lost sleep, deprived personal time, and emotional roller coaster ride of being an always-on-duty parent living with your child? It could be that these people have decided that money can not buy benefits they receive by being with their child. During years before school, their child will learn to walk, to talk, to count, to read, hop, skip, jump and climb. This once helpless baby will stretch out and grow bigger, exploring world at every step. A step a parent helped them take; a world parent is showing them. Staying at home with your baby is committing yourself to raising a future adult. Or, perhaps a couple has calculated how much it really costs to have both parents working and decided money was not worth hassle of working and emotional stress of leaving their child to be raised by somebody else. Have you sat down with a pencil and calculator to find out just how much money that second working spouse brings home? Allow me to use Sandy (not her real name) as an example: She and her husband Paul have sat down to decide if it was economically feasible for her to stay home after birth of their second child. They wrote out a list of expenses associated with her working. The major costs include: 1. Personal Appearance – gently used or brand new quality clothing was bought frequently to maintain a good image at office, some required dry cleaning and then she had a need for makeup and beauty products she wouldn’t normally wear except to work 2. Transportation – a second vehicle requires payments, insurance premiums, license plates, taxes, occasional repair and plenty of fuel 3. Food – Sandy often ate at corner food shop just down from her work 4. Daycare – since Sandy and her husband were both working during day, baby would have to be placed with a daycare, their first child was already in school 5. Taxes – this was a major hit to Sandy’s paycheck
| | Fun with Children: Making Memories on a BudgetWritten by Nicole Dean
What childhood memories do you hold dear? For me, it was all times "life happened". The little things like playing outside, riding my bike with wind in my hair, playing at park, swimming in lakes, giggling with friends. None of those moments cost a cent, yet they are some of my most treasured memories. Making memories on a budget is very easy to do. Choose any of ideas below and you'll have a fun-filled time without breaking bank! Garden - Plant flowers, fruit trees, herbs, or vegetables. Your child will learn science, responsibility and have fun! Snip-it - Give your child old toy catalogs or magazines and safe scissors. Watch them cut all day. Diggin' It - Send your child outside with a bucket and small shovel. Shoveling snow, sand, dirt or rocks -- it's all good fun. Sing - Turn up radio and sing! Teach your child music of 70s, 80s, or 90s. Play Catch - Throw different items (balloons, tennis balls) to your child. Roll balls to young children. Sidewalk Chalk - Lay on sidewalk and take turns outlining each other. Decorate your flat selves. Cardboard Boxes - Make towers, build cities, design play houses, airplanes, trains, forts and more! Bubbles - Blow Bubbles. Take turns chasing and popping them. Masks - Create Masks from Paper bags, paper plates, foam, or anything on hand. Cards - Introduce your child to all classic games -- UNO, Crazy 8, Go Fish, Old Maid, Memory Match. Scavenger Hunt - Give your child a list of clues and send him out to find them. Clues can be simple (find a rock) or very advanced (find a piece of granite). Throw Rocks - Go to a pond, creek, or lake and throw rocks. Try to skip them or aim for different targets. Bath Time - Bring kitchen utensils into bath tub. Bubbles and water can become an imaginary gourmet dinner. Office - Give your child Junk Mail, stickers, a calculator and pen -- they'll have their own office!
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