Stay home moms
In my pre-child life, I never imagined that I would ever be a housewife – hello, I graduated from a bad school to spend my days in developing diapers. Anyway, when I held my first baby, Matilda, I had a complete difference in heart. When we closed our eyes, all those stresses related to profession and money blurred away. They didn’t disappear, but they certainly became optional.
I have a huge amount of companions with comparable encounters. They’re not clones—the current housewife (SAHM) might be an ink-painter shaker, the CEO of her own organization, or an environmental lobbyist—but they all have one thing in common: a deep desire to be there for every snapshot of their children’s lives – the great, the terrible and the wonderfully chaotic. In case you think about existence as a SAHM, both sweet rewards and extreme hardships await. Read on for insight and advice from experts and moms who’ve been in the trenches.
More and more women are becoming stay-at-home mothers
We no longer live in a Leave it All to Beaver world, where 49% of women in 1967 were stay-at-home moms with a working husband. However, numbers from a recent Pew Research study show that the number of women becoming stay-at-home mothers is on the rise.
While 71% of mothers work outside the home, 29% stay at home. This number is 6% more than in 1999.
But the numbers shouldn’t matter. Quitting your job to become a stay-at-home mom doesn’t have to be due to guilt or peer pressure. While there are many great reasons to be a stay-at-home mom, being a stay-at-home parent isn’t for everyone.
Parents at home benefit older children, not just younger ones
A recent study found that the benefits of having a parent at home extend beyond the early years of a child’s life. The study measured the educational performance of 68,000 children. They found increases in school achievement all the way up to high school-aged children. The greatest educational impact in their research was found in children aged 6-7 years.
Most homeschoolers also have a parent at home to instruct them. A compilation of studies provided by the National Home Education Research Institute shows a number of statistics that support the importance of the stay-at-home parent for educational reasons. For example, research shows that home school students typically score 15 to 30 percentile above public school students on standardized tests and score above average on the ACT and SAT.
Whether you’re a stay-at-home parent homeschooling your child or just there when they get off the bus after school, more studies are finding that being a stay-at-home parent gives kids an academic advantage over their peers without a stay-at-home parent. Whether you stay at home or work, research from the National Education Association has shown that parental involvement in school affects a child’s academic achievement and how long they actually stay in school.
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