Taking Time Off the Career Track

I'm coming to this question late, but I will say I'm at a unique point for perspective. I had my son while I was still in college, and completing my degree was very important to me. When I graduated, I secured a full-time job in a related field, and after working for a year, I took a week off for a friend's wedding. Spending all that time with my son made me realize I didn't want to spend that much time away from him during his most critical years. With my husband's blessing, I started working from home part time. My son is now a senior in high school and I've never regretted a day of being home. I believe so strongly it was the right decision, I encouraged my husband to go into business for himself from home as well.

We're available for carpool, helping at school, and virtually anything else the kids need. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Tweetyt83,
Just a suggestion.. I have taken online classes for several years. Is this an option for you? This allows me to "go to school" when my kids are in bed or my older two are in school during the day. I still struggle to manage it all, but my kids have me when they need me. This might help you feel more connected to your son and not feel like you are missing him. It's a hard decision to better yourself when it takes you away from your family, even when you know that it will benefit your entire family in the long run. Good luck with continuing your education and juggling it all.

I relate to all of these comments-I always found it heartbreaking to return to a full-time job after coming off maternity leave but there never really seems to be an age that you feel comfortable being away from your child 40+ hours a week-whether they are 6 days, 6 months, 6 years or 16- in fact, I find that now that I have a preschooler, a Kindergartner, and a teenager-that the teenage years are extremely important to spend quality time and be involved with school-probably more so than ever. I have been thinking about returning to graduate school and continuing working full-time (for financial and job security reasons) and I am having a difficult time deciding IF I should do this and WHEN would be the best timing-when my youngest starts K, my oldest will be a sophomore..if only there was a crystal ball!

I ask myself some of these same questions each day. Am I doing the right thing by working instead of being a stay at home mother? Is it fair to my son to see me for only 4-5 hours a day? How can I allocate more time to him? Then I think, what if I was to get pregnant, what then? Would I leave work, work part time, or go to school? To top it all off I am currently taking one class 3hrs a day for twice a week, so that adds to the stress of my time management. It breaks my heart to have to leave my son just 15 minutes after picking him up from the babysitter to head on out to school. I had originally planned on taking the next class this coming semester, but I think I will take a break, and focus my time on my son. I will return to school the semester after next. Its all so tough to decide. The way I see it, I work to improve our quality of life, and although I do only see my son 4-5 hours on school nights, I know that there is the weekend to spend it in family, so that helps me get through the week.