Well, let’s be completely clear. I am a stay-at-home dad (SAHD). That is my job, and it is more important than any job I could get paid to do. Even though I write with a goal of helping readers improve their personal finances, it certainly doesn’t mean that everyone should run out, get a job, earn as much as they can, and save as much as they can. Every family has their own priorities, and it is great for families that have the opportunity to choose for a parent to stay home, raise children, and take care of just about everything else for the household.
It is often pushed on us to go to college, get a degree, and start a career. However, I rarely (if ever) see any thorough and complete discussion about what happens when life occurs, which it inevitably does. If you get married and have children, do you decide to both keep working and pay for full-time childcare or a nanny? Or do you decide to have one parent stop or pause their career to stay home with children? Will that spouse be bitter if they end their career short to take care of children, resulting in endless friction within a marriage?
For those that choose to have children, being a stay-at-home and raising your children may be the most important job you will have. However, it can also be the most challenging, frustrating, exhausting, and underappreciated job they could have. Yet, you’ll have moments where the rewards from your hard work and time are returned in spades. The impact you have on your children lasts forever. It will impact how they move forward in their lives as children, adults, and parents (if they have children).
Now, some parents just can’t deal with kids all day every day. I get it, trust me. There have been plenty of times that I have looked for a job out of frustration. I’ve even gotten to the point of running the numbers to see how much take home pay I would have after taxes and childcare. But after running the numbers, even if I started with a great initial salary, getting a job still isn’t worth the trade-offs and sacrifice for our family. I just think about everything I do during ‘normal working hours’, and then think about pushing all of those activities outside of those hours. Laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking, walking my children to school, teaching my children, exercising, and quality time with my family would be reduced or even eliminated. One other benefit of having a stay-at-home parent, potentially overlooked by many, is the reduced amount of stress across the family. At the same time, being a SAHD is also a sacrifice, but one we choose to make for our family.
Every family makes their own decisions, and some families may be able to make it work out great with two working parents, but many are forced to have two working parents due to decisions from their past. Maybe it’s student loan payments, credit card debt, car payments, or just not understanding how to budget and manage money. It may take time, but all of those things can be changed. The choice to learn is yours. Reach out to someone and ask questions (or Contact Me with topics you would like me to write about). Listen to podcasts to learn. Read a few books about personal finance. Go through the ‘Six Steps of the Rat Race Off Ramp’. Just like everything else in life, our finances will not magically fix themselves. Are there any other factors you consider when making your family decisions?
Are you a family with one or two working parents? How is it working out? Do you want to change it?
Note: If I have the opportunity to do my ‘dream job’ remotely, I would more than likely take the job and start working from home.
Sign Up for the Weekly Off Ramp! And send in a topic you want to hear about on the Contact Us page. Follow me on Twitter 
Facebook 
and Pinterest 