Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm someone that thought I might regret it. I really struggled with going back to work in a way I didn't expect with my oldest and it frankly persisted for awhile. I even took almost a year of maternity leave with my second and then was part time for a little. Now that the kids are later elementary I'm starting to feel really solid in not fully stepping out. For all the reasons others have said. The long daycare days is what got me too, like another poster said but I think I did a pretty good job mitigating that while keeping my career intact. We usually find reasons to feel good about the decisions we make But just speaking as someone who really considered it and kind of wanted to, I don't regret not doing it now that I'm farther along.

Also, I will add with more life experience i have come to really see the risks of leaving. I've had some family members and friends be in really tough financial situations because of deaths, divorce, etc. in part because they had not been working for a long time.

I thought maybe I wrote this! I ended up reducing my hours to 30 a week to make my kids time at daycare shorter. I know that’s not an option for everyone but I am so thankful my work accommodated it for me.

Not regrets but I feel a little sad over the summer. Camps are kind of a lot for one of my kids. But I remember being bored a lot during summers with my SAHM. My kids have it fairly good I think. Trying to swing an extra week of leave this summer so they only have to do 6 weeks of camp.

I do regret not taking longer maternity leaves. In retrospect if I had asked I probably could have gotten a year off with each kid and we could have afforded it. I was too afraid to ask - I took what was the max I’d heard of anyone taking and tried to be grateful. But if I could have had another 6 months home with each baby- wow I’d give a lot for that.

What do they do with you in the summer when they are not at camp?

Anonymous wrote:I wish I could do it, especially now that they are in elementary school. I feel very stretched and as parenting moves from keeping them alive to emotional support and helping them become good people, that feels like more of a negative for them. We need my income though.

Anonymous wrote:Not at all. Spouse died unexpectedly and I was able to provide for the family with no problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm someone that thought I might regret it. I really struggled with going back to work in a way I didn't expect with my oldest and it frankly persisted for awhile. I even took almost a year of maternity leave with my second and then was part time for a little. Now that the kids are later elementary I'm starting to feel really solid in not fully stepping out. For all the reasons others have said. The long daycare days is what got me too, like another poster said but I think I did a pretty good job mitigating that while keeping my career intact. We usually find reasons to feel good about the decisions we make But just speaking as someone who really considered it and kind of wanted to, I don't regret not doing it now that I'm farther along.

Also, I will add with more life experience i have come to really see the risks of leaving. I've had some family members and friends be in really tough financial situations because of deaths, divorce, etc. in part because they had not been working for a long time.

I thought maybe I wrote this! I ended up reducing my hours to 30 a week to make my kids time at daycare shorter. I know that’s not an option for everyone but I am so thankful my work accommodated it for me.

Not regrets but I feel a little sad over the summer. Camps are kind of a lot for one of my kids. But I remember being bored a lot during summers with my SAHM. My kids have it fairly good I think. Trying to swing an extra week of leave this summer so they only have to do 6 weeks of camp.

I do regret not taking longer maternity leaves. In retrospect if I had asked I probably could have gotten a year off with each kid and we could have afforded it. I was too afraid to ask - I took what was the max I’d heard of anyone taking and tried to be grateful. But if I could have had another 6 months home with each baby- wow I’d give a lot for that.

Anonymous wrote:I'm someone that thought I might regret it. I really struggled with going back to work in a way I didn't expect with my oldest and it frankly persisted for awhile. I even took almost a year of maternity leave with my second and then was part time for a little. Now that the kids are later elementary I'm starting to feel really solid in not fully stepping out. For all the reasons others have said. The long daycare days is what got me too, like another poster said but I think I did a pretty good job mitigating that while keeping my career intact. We usually find reasons to feel good about the decisions we make But just speaking as someone who really considered it and kind of wanted to, I don't regret not doing it now that I'm farther along.

Also, I will add with more life experience i have come to really see the risks of leaving. I've had some family members and friends be in really tough financial situations because of deaths, divorce, etc. in part because they had not been working for a long time.