Stay at Home Mom vs. Working Mom

I am a stay at home mom. The first year of Gibbie's life I suffered from cabin fever because of it. I know now that I didn't do it right. I took the stay at home part literally and because of that I was very lonely and sad though I never did have postpartum depression (surprisingly). Now, however, between MOPS, LWML, Stroller Fitness, and the bible study I go to, Gibbie and I keep ourselves very busy (and sane).

For a brief moment I did consider going back to my supervisor position at Levis in our outlet mall after my maternity leave was up but because it was only part time I would be working to pay for day care and not have anything left over. That didn't make sense. The Hubs and I both wanted Gibbie to be brought up in a way that made sense to us and not let someone else do it their way .

Finishing my degree is still on my to do list but one of the reasons I haven't gone back to school yet is because we don't have a childcare option. Ideally, someone in our family would watch her, I'd finish school, then I'd go back to work with a very flexible schedule so that I could still do the PTA stuff I've dreamed of doing.

With all of that said I do wish that I had the ability to provide for myself and my daughter if (God forbid) anything at all should happen to my husband. At this point, though I do sell Pampered Chef, I would lose the house and car and probably have to move in with Satan my sister unless there was a miracle of a full time job that didn't require a degree and paid very good money.

Posing this question to Facebook and Tumblr I almost assumed everyone would say they'd stay home if they could. I did get a few with that answer but one friend said she was very glad to show her girls what being an independent woman is about. Of course that made me wonder if maybe by not having a degree and staying at home is going to end up sending Gibbie the wrong message. The social media consensus is that working from home would be perfection. It's such a hard decision for me to make. My mom stayed at home and I thought it was wonderful but she did literally come from a very different generation. The Hubs' mom always worked full time and it was a great example but he was alone a lot. I'm really just hoping that I can find a nice balance with The Pampered Chef and I'll be able to boost my business and not have to worry about anything at all.

What would you do if given the choice?

Links:
This is the article that got me thinking about this topic.
This one seems a bit harsh but I get why she says what she says.
I love this blog and the writer recently quit her job to be a stay at home mom to her two children.

Finally, here's a picture to fulfill your cuteness quota for the day: