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Summertime Blues
by Cheryl Gochnauer, Homebodies.org

We just came through tax time, but there's another financial hurdle right over the horizon for working parents of elementary students: summer break. For most families, daycare costs will skyrocket once the kids need care 10 to 12 hours a day, instead of simply before and after school. This monetary reality can trigger depression in those moms who are struggling with the desire to be at home full-time with their children.

I spent six years as a working mother. Like so many of my peers, I figured that since we were barely making it on two incomes, we'd go under if I quit my job. However, an unanticipated conflict between a sick child and a big project at work forced me to take a serious look at our financial situation. Could we afford for me to become a stay-at-home mom?

I was as surprised as anyone when I realized that, after subtracting all the costs associated with my job (childcare, transportation expenses, eating out, business clothing, taxes, etc.), I was only clearing $39 a week. The calculations I used included daycare charges for my first grader (before and after school) and my 2-year-old (all day). During the summer, I actually wasn't making any money at all, since that $39 a week was easily erased by increased daycare costs for my older child.

Was I nuts? No. I didn't know I was working for free from June to September, because I'd never done the math. If you've been considering coming home but think it will never work financially, I encourage you to learn from my mistake. Check your own figures now.

My becoming an at-home parent relieved so many pressures in the Gochnauer household, not the least of which was worrying about what to do with the kids over the summer, and how to pay for it. Although I am the first to admit that this lifestyle is not for everyone, it has been a great move for us.

Before you start singing the Summertime Blues, look at all your options, and see if, as was true in my case, there is a Plan B that might work better for your family. 

Looking for a Mothers Day gift? Consider Cheryl's book, "So You Want to Be a Stay-at-Home Mom," available from The Light Keeper Bookstore! 

copyright 2003 Cheryl Homebodies.org, LLC - All rights reserved.

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