Enter to Win at My Humble Kitchen.com

Just a quick share:  
I have to say, even though I blog, I only have a handful of blogs I actually have time to follow. This one is my most favorite: MyHumbleKitchen.com. 

I am so excited about one of Diana's latest posts that I had to share with you- mom to mom- and teacher to teacher! 

 You can enter to win this REALLY nice picnic set from Might Nest, a sponsor of hers, complete with something every mom would drool over- reusable, washable, snack bags! AND you can also ask family and friends to accumulate points toward $1,000 give away for your local school. Just sign up through facebook and visit this link: 
ENTER TO WIN at MYHUMBLEKITCHEN.COM

If you're a mom of little ones, she also offers a great noursihing whole wheat snack cracker recipe. I just LOVE her healthy recipes. Don't forget to follow Diana! Your tummy will thank you. 

~Shelley

Feeling the Burn: When Teachers Get Burned Out

 

Since we have begun the summer months, we will not be featuring a teacher here at Freshly Chewed. Instead we will be offering encouragement for tired teachers!

If you are a parent reading this, you may always see your child's teacher with a big smile on his/her face when greeted. You may think of him/her as energetic, enthusiastic, and on the ball (hopefully).

However, what parents may not be all to aware of is that teachers get burned out. They may only teach for 9 months out of the year, but these are not 9-5 jobs. They are 5 am - ... all life consuming, all mind consuming, all time consuming careers; even in the summer teachers are planning for the next school year. (Make sure you send them an encouraging card once or twice throughout the year. They need it!)



 Teachers teach because they feel they make a difference in the life of even one student. That is a powerful draw and the reality is that teachers often find it difficult to savor when the school year is polluted with pressures of being a miracle worker, balancing family and personal time with work and knowing what and when to let go on the long list of things they'd like to do for their students but simply don't have the time.


The school year beings with the smell of freshly sharpened pencils and sanitizing wipes, and teachers are under great pressure of assessing students' learning levels and making big decisions about how they can best serve them for the next 190 days. The year continues with papers and projects to grade, calendars to fill, myriads of faculty meetings about new professional development and often no time to study it or implement it effectively.  There are new units to write, resources to gather, copies to make, behavior charts to create, parent notes to compose and phone calls to administer. 
 Students transfer, new students come and teachers are scrambling to make the child feel comfortable and catch them up. Paper work mounts on the desk (which IS an organized mess) and three somewhat weird smelling travel coffee mugs from the week are somewhere in the midst. 
Teachers begin to find themselves mid year wondering, "did I forget my anxiety meds, my caffeine or my smile this morning"?  Sometimes things just don't feel right. If this is you, you may be feeling the burn- burnout.


Wendi Pillar offers insight in her post Six Signs of -and Solutions for Teacher Burn-Out.

Give yourself a quiz for a change. If you find yourself checking the block on at least 3 of these below, you are most likely on your way to a burnout if not already there. Burnout is inevitable for everyone, but knowing what to do to learn from it is the key to staying in your teaching position successfully!

"Exhaustion. This is a fatigue so deep that there's no way to "turn it off," no matter how badly you want to. It's deep in your bones. The kind of tired where you just want to ooze into your bed and disconnect from life. 
Extreme graveness. Realizing you go hours without smiling or laughing, or days without a belly laugh. 
Anxiety. The constant, nagging feeling that you can and should do more, while simultaneously realizing you need to unplug and spend more time with your family. But there are so many things to do. 
Being overwhelmed. Questioning how they can possibly add one more task, expectation, or mandate to your plate. Compromising your values of excellence just so you can check-off 15 more boxes to stay in compliance. All the while knowing it still won't be enough. 
Seeking. Losing your creativity, imagination, patience, and enthusiasm for daily challenges. Craving reflection time and productive collaboration rather than group complaining. 
Isolation. Wanting to head for the deepest, darkest cave where no one will see your vulnerability. A place where your limits are unseen and unquestioned and all is quiet."
(Pillar- May, 2014)

IF you have teacher burnout, don't worry! You are not alone and thanks to Wendi, you can actively take a role in reversing your burnout and allow it to make you stronger.
Wendi's suggestions are in my opinion, right on. I only wish I had read her post when I was in the classroom!

Wendi suggests:
1. Letting some things go
2. Appointing a supportive community who can encourage you
3. Make time for 'self' and your creative outlets or reflection time alone for restoration
4. Relationships with faith, family and friends and therefore, time away from work
5. Gratitude with purpose
6. Heal through perspective

Please take the time to read Wendi's well written and very encouraging post as she elaborates further.

Just because you have teacher burnout, and will from time to time, doesn't mean you should not be a teacher. It doesn't mean you must feel hopeless and trapped, frustrated or defeated, or like you wasted years in college preparing for a dead end.  Take some time and apply these principles; see if you feel better. Do some soul searching and some prayer.  If you are still feeling burned out, talk to your administrator about a different type of position. Perhaps you would better enjoy a different grade level, different school or different type of role in your school.
 Remember, you really are making a difference in someone, but sometimes we first need to make a difference in ourselves!
-With much love and hope,

Shelley
Former 3rd Grade Teacher
K-2 ESOL Teacher
M.Ed. Reading Curriculum & Instruction
(I've been there!)

Lessons from the Kitchen

Everyone probably has at least one picky eater in the family and sometimes when we're on the go as moms, it's easy to get stuck making less than healthy meal and snack choices.  

My goal of this post is encourage you and share some valuable lessons we have learned in our home for saving money while making healthy choices as well as teaching our children to make healthy choices too. 

One benefits of being a stay-at-home mom is that you get to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. (I realize this may not seem like a benefit to some people, but I enjoy being in the kitchen during nap-time so I can escape my toddler pushing me away from the counter demanding my attention. 

The older two kids enjoy helping sometimes. Other times, I have to shoo them out of the kitchen as if they are little vultures hoovering atop their step stools, seeking anything to devour. I also have to rid the kitchen of the over-sized dog who can easily reach the counter-tops with her snout.
 So, after the stars have aligned and the mood is set, 

I enjoy being in the kitchen. 

 I try to make most things from scratch so I know just what goes into what we are eating.  I keep it  simple with simple ingredients and simple instructions.   I try to avoid the snacks foods at the grocery store. I try to steer my cart away the middle section of the store with the exception of the baking aisle and occasionally the <ahem> ice cream freezer. Anyway, we usually stick to produce, meats, dairy and breads/grains. 

I grocery shopped this week with no coupons and got what we needed for about $75.00. 

What we Buy

 I buy certain foods that are organic like  milk, butter, yogurt, eggs, bacon and beef. I think we save money simply by making things from scratch and having a good stockpile in our pantry. I buy bulk grains like oats, rice, pasta and wheat berries. I also buy large quantities of oils and honey for baking so I don't replace those weekly. We started a garden this year so I'm hoping to cut our grocery bill back even more. I also buy bulk frozen veggies and fruits for certain recipes.

I know I still have a lot to learn about healthy eating and there are others that have a lot more knowledge than me. I still haven't jumped on the bandwagon of drinking raw milk. We don't drink much milk, but cheese, yogurt and butter are favorites around our house.  I would love to have these things made from raw milk or pet milk.  Raw cheese is so expensive at the grocery store if you can even find it. I've considered making my own cheeses, butter and yogurt from raw milk. I just haven't gotten that far yet.

I have learned so much about food since Mae was born. I regret that I didn't know what I do now about healthy foods when she was a baby and toddler, or even when I was pregnant. 

Thankfully, she still turned out to make better food choices most days than me. Mae has always been a healthy eating machine. She even turned her nose up at baby food and never finished a jar, ever. She started eating “table foods” at 6 months old. I didn't take much caution with introducing new foods and just let her eat whatever we were eating.  Maybe this helped her in some way to enjoy a variety of foods.

Teaching Healthy Eating at Home

Remember, I'm the homeschool author for  Freshly Chewed and teaching at home lends itself naturally to teaching about healthy eating habits.                 

 For preschool, we have a unit on healthy foods where we sort out all of our toy foods from the play kitchen into different food groups. We talk about how much we should eat each day of which group and then make a place mat using some clip art of their favorite foods. I also use this time to show them how to properly set a place setting at the table for mealtime. Here is a picture of Mae's place-mat she made when she was two.  We made this during November, hence the Thanksgiving theme.

 We made this nearly six years ago so the food pyramid may have changed. I don't stress about the food pyramid so much now to know it's current recommendations. Diets vary so much between different cultures and countries that I don't feel any certain guide can be reliable.

We just try to eat lots of fresh, whole foods.

Our family doesn't need to cut out any certain food groups at this point so we eat everything from grains to dairy, but we eat those things sparingly (once or twice a day). A good rule of thumb is to fill up half of your plate (and your child's plate) with fruits and veggies.

Basically, we just minimize our choices. 

 When I was growing up we had Little Debbie snack cakes and cookies constantly in the pantry. There was always sugary cereal, eggos or poptarts for breakfast. If that stuff gets in my kitchen now, I will eat. it. all. in. one. hour. I can't handle it. I am home all day with no accountability except hiding from the kids while I eat it. So, if we are hungry, we have fruits, veggies and a few homemade treats to enjoy. 

A Great Snack for Lactose Sensitivity
I struggle with my toddler helping himself to snacks. He sneaks in the kitchen to find raisins, pretzels and cheese. It's to the point that I've threatened to put a lock on the pantry and fridge doors. Jake, my youngest, is by far my pickiest eater. He loves to eat dairy, but his tummy revolts at too much lactose. He won't eat meat unless I put it in a pasta sauce. He loves carbs and sugar.  I mean, who doesn't right?? I'm sure I will have a more difficult time raising him to enjoy “all things in moderation.”

One of the recipes I use often for a snack or dessert is from a friend who is much more knowledgeable about healthy foods than me. It's a granola bar recipe and all my kids devour it. We had friends over yesterday and their kids attacked this granola bar like it was manna from heaven. Jake, however, is notorious for just picking off the chocolate chips. I wanted to share with you this scrumdidliuptious recipe:

 
We are in a detox mode right now, trying to stay away from refined sugars. The kids were beginning to expect dessert after each meal! I've discovered that this expectation was keeping them from going back for seconds of the “real food” when they were still hungry. So, no more desserts for a while....unless they eat so well during the day that I reward them with a special bedtime snack.

Their favorites right now are raspberries with a chocolate chip pressed into the hull or Nutella® stuffed inside a hollow strawberry. 

Favorite Dinner Recipe
I also want to share one of our favorite recipes for dinner. I love it because it is easy, calls for simple ingredients, uses only one dish (seriously) and everyone eats it without complaints. It's also my favorite dish to take to a family after the birth of a baby, but I usually leave out the onion. I try to keep the menu as bland as possible (while keeping it as yummy as possible) when delivering food to new mommies who are breastfeeding. It's adapted from Trisha Yearwood's 

pork chops and rice recipe.

 

 
I found that recipe in January and have made it countless times since then. It is so good, easy and as you can see uses items that you probably already have in your fridge and pantry.

Teaching in the Kitchen

I can't seem to link this post to a teachable moment or a stick and sand approach to teaching your children. Except to say that

you can teach your kids through ordinary moments-

 moments that happen in the kitchen or while setting a table. 

Enjoying good-for-you food and conversation together, knowing that you are nourishing their bodies as well as their minds, hearts and soul. 

 There are lots of lessons to be had in the kitchen. We learn about chemistry, math,  home-making, manners, hygiene, reading and following directions. Even my toddler is able to work on those motor skills as he scoops and pours the ingredients and attempts to stir the spoon in a circular motion without the ingredients landing all over the counter, floor or ceiling. Cracking eggs with a two year old is about as fun as it gets, folks.

A teachable moment arose yesterday in our kitchen. We needed to mix up more taco seasoning and we tripled the recipe.  I did most of the math involved except a little bit of skip counting done by the kids. We were able to review our teaspoon and tablespoon equivalents.  Since we were making such a large amount, we needed to convert the teaspoons to tablespoons to make quick work of our chore.  My middle son enjoyed the smells of all the different spices we were using.  He loves to help me cook just to be able to smell all the different ingredients.  This is a learning and calming experience for him.  Our taco seasoning recipe calls for Rosemary so we discussed some of the spices that are ordinarily in certain types of foods.  I showed them how we needed to clean the measuring spoon after each spice addition since we usually don't mix cumin (a spice used in most Mexican dishes) with the rosemary (a spice normally used in Italian dishes).  Mae enjoyed reading the recipe and finding each herb and spice we would need.  Here is a picture of her organizing the spice drawer after we finished.

  Once upon a time, my spices and herbs were alphabetized.  But I've let that go.  Getting that back in order might be a good phonics project for Mae and Nate this summer.  

Most days we are teaching our kids without even realizing it.  Everyone is homeschooling their kids if they are spending time in meaningful conversation with them and involving them in ordinary tasks.  I don't often take time to dissect every moment I spend with my kids like I did with the moment in the kitchen yesterday. 

 But if we take a closer look, we can see how we are educating our children without textbooks and worksheets.  
 

You are able to pass down things that are important in your family, faith and culture by simply spending quality time conversing with them and sharing everyday tasks together.

You are teaching them so much more through these everyday, ordinary teachable moments.  These moments are deepened when you can incorporate things learned in "school" like we did with the math and measurements, but this occurs naturally throughout the day.  Notice those moments with your kids.  Savor them.  Thank God for them.    

Nate just informed me that Jake is eating from a bag of veggie chips.  Need to find that lock and key for the pantry. Stat.

Healthy Family Author Introduction

We have exciting news here at Freshly Chewed! We will be adding a feature in June to our blog. Rebecca, our healthy family author, will begin with her first post the third week of June. Rebecca is an avid researcher on topics concerning the health content of products we put both in and on our bodies. She is very knowledgeable and we hope to inspire a lot of good conversations, but open eyes at the same time so your family can make more informed healthy choices!

Let's meet Rebecca.

My name is Rebecca Douglas, and I am a homeschooling mom, owner of a graphic design studio business, and a research junkie. I'll be honest, it's hard balancing the life of a first grade school teacher (Well, I guess I can say second grade teacher now since my daughter passed first grade and is out for the summer! Yippee!), with being mom to 3 kids, AND the sole proprietor of my own business working from home (...answering client phone calls while changing the baby's diaper. Yep, I've done that, but don't tell my clients!). So, how do I have time for research too? Well, no matter how many hats I wear during the day, my most important one is the mommy hat. And as mommy, part of my job is to protect my kids and their health to the best of my ability. That's where the research part comes into play.

I'm fully aware that my degree in commercial art didn't quite prepare me to be an authority on the subject of health, but I have a curious mind, a desire for truth and knowledge, and the part of anatomy that God gave to all us moms... a brain. In our modern world where our "food" is full of chemicals, "health" comes in pharmaceutical bottles, and the water we drink is medicated "for our own good" one can not take this task lightly. I believe the mandate from God "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." (I Cor. 10:31) carries an extra weight when applied to the care of our children. We are helping to mold and shape another little person into who God wants them to be. The health decisions we make for our children now as moms will affect their whole life and future.

I'm excited to delve into this journey with you as we research together many health related topics from natural vrs organic, GMOs, vaccines, dyes/chemicals/food additives, water fluoridation, and so much more! We all have the same goal in mind - raising healthy children, but sometimes we come from different points of view. All (appropriate) comments will be appreciated, even dissenting opinions to my own. And I will do my best to answer any comments/questions you may have on each topic with main-stream, documented facts. So, come along with me as we seek to better understand God's fascinating and wonderful creation - the human body and its health.

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Bug View Jars

My Ava and I just love our Bug View Jar from Schoolbox. This was one of her birthday gifts from us this spring and we have had a lot of fun catching bugs. It's way better than a Mason jar (which is what I used growing up). 
The Bug View Jar comes with a lid decorated like a lady bug in either red or yellow. If you push down on the wings, the fly open revealing a magnifying glass. This is great for kids who can study and observe living things (even leaves) close up. There are also breathing holes around the top of the canister part. The lid unscrews for easy catch and release. 

Schoolbox's Bug View Jar

We actually recently did an observation station with a beetle we caught. Remember, Ava is only 3; so we just observed, then she drew a picture of the beetle. She surprised me. She knew the beetle had three legs on each side of him and 6 legs altogether. Hey, that's math! She also noticed he had three parts! You can learn a lot from simple observation.  Then we talked about "beetle" starts with letter "b" -which we had been learning this week; so she ended up with tracing mom's letter "b". 

Click here to visit Tools for School Teacher Resources and find these jewels for a little over $1!

Should I Be a Stay at Home Mom: Steps for Making the Decision

Is it right for you?
Are you standing at the crossroads right now, reading this blog post and hoping for an answer to the questions looming in your head? "Should I stay home with my babies?" "How much of a sacrifice will this be?" "Will I regret my decision?" "What will people at work think?" "What will my family think, my husband?"
"Will my kids be too bored?" "Will I be able to do this every single day?" "What if I hate it?"

 Many moms wrestle with this question and career moms can actually be afraid to toy with the idea. I know because I was one!  

"In 2012, nearly 370,000 U.S. married stay-at-home mothers (with working husbands) had at least a master’s degree..." (pewresearch.org) 

This was me! I began my journey with the same kinds of questions as above.   I faced some criticism for making this choice to stay home; you may too., but that should never be a deciding factor.

Practical deciding factors do need to be studied. 

Financial Survival and Family Goals should be considered. These are really very important and you must decide to what degree you will tip the scales because for you, they not be as balanced as you'd like should you choose to stay home.

 
 Ask yourself what is important; you may decide you need a certain dollar amount to feel accomplished, do things you want, have things you want, etc. This was me for a long time! If you are a working mom now, you will for sure face an income reduction. 
 

 However, you may decide that money doesn't replace the investment you can make in your own children by having every day to influence and train them instead of them being trained by various people you don't really know in the world. You may decide that that is fine for you, but you more than like have already decided in your heart that your yearning is home with your little ones who look to you for guidance. This became me and my husband as well. God changed our hearts to be able to do what He wanted for our family.  

No one was more surprised than me! 

Maybe you have arrived at the same destination. Maybe that's why you were lead to this post. I hope I can be a help to you. 

My Journey

In the early spring of 2012, my husband and I began discussing the possibility of my staying at home with our Ava, soon to be one. I had gone back to teaching in August the same school year and had struggled all year with a deep desire that I needed to be home with her and not there. I felt so strongly that I was missing out on what I felt I should be doing- investing in my own child, training her, teaching her. It might be a sacrificial thing to be a teacher, but it is far more to be a stay-at-home mother, which I found out later and that of which I am still learning. 

When I ventured to mention this idea to my husband, at first, he was not okay with this. After all, I had been teaching significantly longer than he and therefore, to be a stay-at-home mom, we’d have to cut our income by two-thirds!  We would transition from an average of $70,000 a year income to well, $30,000 something. After talking to my husband about it for a few months and him praying about it, something scary happened!   

God changed my husband's heart. 

We prepared for me to stay home the next school year. Were we afraid? YES! Were we sure that is what God wanted for our family?  YES!  Were we hoping and praying and trusting that God would provide for us? YES!

Steps to Decision Making 

1. Talk to your Husband
2. Pray Together
3. Research
4. Prepare Financially


1.The first step to deciding whether or not this decision is right for your family is to talk to your husband. 

2. Secondly, pray together! Seek God’s direction for your family and make sure you are in God’s will. We believe it is God’s will for the mother to be in the home, teaching and training the children everyday all day if this is at all possible; and if that is what you believe and you have sought God's direction, receiving an answer, you can believe He will make it possible for you.

That doesn’t mean you can’t use your talents God has given you, the knowledge you have from your career and work from home either. We see in the Proverbs 31 passage that this stay-at-home mom indeed worked; she was very industrious. She made items and sold them and

“strength and dignity are her clothing”

. http://www.esvbible.org/Proverbs+31/   Hey, that’s pretty good!  A new breed is forming out there- Work From Home Moms! These moms work part-time at home while still being there actively  engaged in the training and teaching of their children. I happen to know several! In fact, I am one!

What about all the work I put into my career? 

I  was, as well as my parents, concerned at first about all the investment we had made into my career. I had attained a master’s degree as well. Would all be lost? Thankfully, God has been faithful to enable me to put to use the talents and training I have had in order to produce some income for my family.You would be surprised at what you can do with what you know and what you can learn when you're willing to strive to learn it.  
It's not like I waste my brain everyday. If there is a need for learning, as there should be for life long learning, you will find ways to invest yourself and be productive if you need that. 

3. Research! I wanted to compile this post for people like me who were looking and searching for an answer, a picture as to how it might look if we cut our income like we did. Every situation is different and sometimes we do things in life by faith- trusting in God's power, provision and love to help us do what He wants us to. God has provided for us. We have made a lot of sacrifices, naturally, but we have food every week and we pay our bills on time. Sometimes we have fun money!  

 There are ways to survive on one income. Let’s explore some:

           a.Look at or set up a budget. There are several helpful templates out there. Track what you spend compared to what you bring in for a couple of months. 

b.Look at what you don’t really need.  We decided we didn’t need a vehicle that had a payment attached. We didn’t need cable during the summer and we didn’t need anything but the lowest cable and internet package. Our cell phones are “dumb” and we don’t have data plans. Only my husband has texting. We also don’t pay a cell phone bill. Both of our phones are under our parents’ family plans. We pay them an average of $15 a month. That’s it! We use our phones as our only phone and so we don’t have a land line either. Our student loans- which were hefty- are now on a pay as you can basis. You can apply for the “income based” payment plan and that lowers your payments significantly.  We also refinanced our home.  Our mortgage payments reduced by over $200 a month!  In addition, we lowered our car insurance plans, which were ridiculously high. We also decided- and this was a hard one- that we don’t need vacations. Those really are a luxury.

c. Calculate what you will save by not working. Sound weird? When you're trying to figure out every penny to see if you'll survive after deciding to stay home, this acutally helps you find money. It’s also amazing how much money you will save not going to work. Calculate your gas, clothing expense, food expense and other that you spend to have a career. Don’t forget child care!  It is actually cheaper for me to stay home. I had a thirty-minute commute- an hour total a day. The gas was close to $400 a month for my car alone.  Now, I barely use even a third of that. 

d.Plan on practical ways to save and or make money to contribute if you can. Yard sales! Yard sales and consignment sales come twice a year- spring and fall. You can save hundreds for your family on clothes and baby products and children’s toys.  You can also resell your stuff and make money to cover what you buy. So in essence, you recycle your money and earn extra without spending what you don’t have!  Shop the drug stores too. Watch for sales and buy the products you know you’ll need when they’re on sale. Just be careful and do this within reason. If you have to spend $30 to get $4.00 in drugstore brand bucks and that takes money from your weekly grocery allowance so you have to use a credit card to cover groceries, that’s not helping you.  Sometimes you have to have a floating amount of income to be able to play the grocery store and drug store game. We don’t have that kind of income. So we have to get just what we need.

I know, you say, "Wait a minute! What are we going to do for fun if we have basically no money?"  Let's take a Side trip. 

Be reasonable. Depending on your situation, you may not be able to fund little classes for your kids (ie. music lessons, swim lessons, sports, etc.) That is a fantasy world that only a small percentage of stay-at-home moms have the luxury of experiencing. According to pewresearch.org, only 5% of stay at home moms with master's degrees had a working husband and an income of at least $75,000 a year. That means the rest of us are well... humbly thankful for what we can afford.

 Your investment is priceless and there are ways to have fun. Let’s explore some:

            a.Ask for season passes at Christmas for your family. Our family has an annual pass the local Aquariums and therefore, that opens us up to all the learning programs there too. My friend’s family had an annual pass to a Creative museum.

           b. Sign up for an event newsletter for your city that will highlight local children’s activities.

            c.Your local library most likely has free children’s activities once a week to once a month as well.

           d. Invest in play dates. Find a church to attend with moms like you. Befriend them and set up a play date once a week or once a month. It’s great for your kids and for you as well. 

4. Prepare Financially. If you have enough notice when making this decision, try to put up at least 3 months of income into savings.  It's difficult if you have to cut your income and it takes some time adjusting. While you're learning to cut things, cutting all at once is well...shocking.  IF you have some "spending cash" on hand, you can ease yourself off until you're adjusted to where you need to be and you don't want the things you used to. There are many things that are just not as important and not priorities for me now. It's more of a rush to find and save money for my family.  It makes me feel resourceful! 

 

 So, what does the world of stay at home moms really look like? Let's look at some statistics.

According to pewresearch.org, 


"Analysis of time-use diaries finds that mothers at home spend more hours per week than working mothers on child care and housework, as well as more time on leisure and sleep." 

(Hm. It doesn't feel like I get more sleep or leisure.) :)  

"Time use also varies among different groups of mothers at home: Married stay-at-home mothers put more time into child care and less into leisure than their single counterparts." 

Ah, there you go. 

"Overall, mothers at home spend 18 hours a week on child care^,compared with 11 hours for working mothers, a seven-hour difference." 

Wow, that's a 7 hour difference! I have at least an average of 7 hours more a day with my little ones.  
 
 What do Americans really think about a stay at home mom? 

"Americans also continue to think that having a mother (or parent) at home is best for a child. In a recent Pew Research survey, 60% of respondents said children are better off when a parent stays home to focus on the family, compared with 35% who said children are just as well off with working parents."


The Truth About Being A Stay At Home Mom

Staying at home has not been easy. It has been very difficult for me. Sometimes I am tired, upset and fed-up.  However, if you so decide to accept this mission, you must do some inner evaluation. Decide what as to what kind of stay at home mom you'll be most comfortable. Do you need to feel productive outside of running and managing a home, caring for children, etc?  I did. I needed something else to do because I came out of a high pressure career.  I needed to focus my brain in a different way throughout the week. You know, the nice thing is I make my decisions about what I want to invest my brain in outside of my children and if I need rest, I get it; I can choose not to work on a specific project.

Do you need to be out and about a lot? At first I did. Then make provision for that so the adjustment will go well. My friend and now mom of three shared with me once that she makes drive through errands during the week sometimes just get out of the house. That makes her feel better. So, don't feel guilty and trapped, just go out for a bit!  What a wonderful little thing to do to discourage cabin fever. 

Plan a babysitter. Even the most loving moms need a break sometimes and being a stay at home mom means you never leave your job and go home! Plan to go out as much as you need and as often as you can. Even if it's just to drive to the Sonic for happy hour, getting out by yourself can help!


Do you need a high level of adult contact; are you a social bug? Joining a moms group in your area, a bible study or a gym is a good idea. Or, find a friend who would like to walk with you or who you can meet for coffee once a week when your husband is home with the kids. If this works for you, those are easy ways to have adult conversations during the week.
  I hope I was able to guide you in your decision a little! It's tough. Follow the steps! Talk to your husband. Pray. Research. Prepare. Wait and see what God has for you!