Time for Parenting...

...because raising children is a full-time job

January 2002 Newsletter

Editorial; From the chair; New members write; Financial report; AGM; What the papers say; Emotional development; What does the committee do?; Poem; Your letters

In Your Own Words… New members relate their experiences as full-time mothers

I am a Montessori teacher, I have also helped in Steiner play groups and would love to do the course but finances do not allow it yet. I have five children aged 15 to 20 months. I have always made the choice to stay at home; we manage on one salary which is very hard but rewarding.

I believe in the importance of children being raised by their parents for the first few years of their lives and intend to stay at home with my children full-time. I am amazed at how I am in a minority having had my first child and meeting other mums, of which I am the only one planning to stay at home. I feel it is important that society's values shift to appreciate the important role of the parent in bringing up their children as this situation benefits the whole of society, whereas the current emphasis on working mums does not, in my opinion.

I am a medical doctor who combines alternative medicine and body psychotherapy. When my children were born I reduced my working hours to 10-15 per week and I am working from home. All the rest of my time I am with my children. I love bringing up my children and I miss them when I do work, even though it is not such a long time when I am working, there is an au pair with them, even so I feel that me or my partner are the best for them.

I am 29 years old and have been a full time mother since the birth of Henry in 1999. I had a good job but feel that looking after my own children is more important.

I am a grandmother concerned for the rising generation. I enjoyed looking after our own children, and only returned to teaching part time when they were all at school.

Our daughter and daughter-in-law have chosen to care for their young children themselves, but it is particularly hard for our daughter, whose husband works for a Christian charity and is on a low income. Our daughter-in-law is married to a clergyman and certainly not well off.

I am a full-time mum who firmly believes in the importance of this role, especially at a time when so many women are choosing to go back to work. I made a conscious decision to give up a well-paid career in personnel management to care for my children and have never regretted it for a moment.

I do not know many other mums who are full-time. I would love to know of some books I could read on the subject. I have tried to trace one called Being There, The Benefits of Being a Stay at Home Parent, but cannot find it.

Have you tried looking on the web? Amazon for example? - Ed

I am a full-time mum at home with the three children. I am also breast-feeding counsellor with La Leche League, where I have received lots of support and encouragement for being at home with my kids. I am involved with my local church and help run a youth fellowship in my house (my husband is the minister). I like gardening and cooking, I wish I had time to do crafts!

I believe kids need their mums' loving support and that mums need support too. We were not meant to be isolated rearing children in 3-bedroom semis, etc. but out kids are designed to need us. I love being at home but have struggled with lack of self-esteem.