Congratulations! You're about to have your first child. Your life is about to change dramatically in both enjoyable and challenging ways. One of the biggest decisions you have to make is whether to stay at home with the baby or work and hire someone else to care for him during the day. Weigh the pros and cons of both options before Baby finally arrives.
Affordability
You may immediately conclude that you won't be able to afford staying at home, but consider the potential stay-at-home parent's salary and balance it with the costs of child care combined with the money you'll save just by being home. In 2007, BabyCenter online estimated that sending your baby or toddler to a daycare center cost between $4,388 to $14,647 a year. It estimated that sending your baby or toddler to a home daycare cost between $4,128 and $9,508 per year. Personalized care from a full-time nanny was estimated to be between $26,004 and $36,396 a year. By staying home, you could also feasibly expect fewer work-related expenses such as work attire, lunches out, and gas or a commuter train pass. If you have a relative willing to watch your child for cheap or free, you would more likely reap financial and career benefits of working at least part-time.
Impact on Child
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development found that preschoolers of all backgrounds who spent a year or more in any type of day care were more likely to have discipline problems through grade six. Researchers noted that children who spent the most time in child care as infants and toddlers exhibited the most discipline problems. However, other studies, such as one funded by the National Institutes of Health and published in the March through April issue of "Child Development," claim that child care can benefit children. The "Child Development" study found that children who received high-quality child care prior to kindergarten scored better in fifth grade vocabulary than children who attended lower-quality child care.
Challenges of Staying Home
Beyond the financial challenges of staying home and concerns over your child's well-being, consider the potential psychological impact on the parent staying home. Being home all day with an infant can lead to feelings of boredom, loneliness and alienation. However, these feelings can be overcome with continuous dialogue between both partners, as well as social outings for the stay-at-home parent and baby. "Mommy" groups are a great way to socialize with people who may occasionally be dealing with similar frustrations.
Your Values
Even if staying home ends up being more costly, you may elect to have one parent stay home because you believe that you should be the one raising the child. If the intrinsic value of personally witnessing all of your baby's milestones is worth more than the financial value of working, both partners will be more willing to cut back on other expenditures such as dinners out and biannual vacations. However, the intrinsic value of developing a stable career and having two stable legs supporting your family may outweigh the value of being there personally with your child. If that is the situation, both parents could opt to work at least part-time.
Balance
Choosing to work or stay at home isn't as black-and-white as it used to be. More and more parents are choosing to work at home by telecommuting. Your employer may not give you option of telecommuting, but some online jobs offer a decent hourly wage. Perhaps you could be a customer service agent, article writer or part-time tutor. Your productivity wouldn't necessarily be high if you have a baby who constantly needs your attention, but you could even consider hiring a neighbor to care for him in the house a few hours every day while you work.
