So, bubs is settling. The visitors have gone. The thank you cards are done. The hospital bills start arriving. Work calls to enquire in a round about way whether your maternity leave plans are still on track, and you start thinking.
Why do I want to leave my children? How can I stand another day without adult conversation? And all day swing between the two ends of the barometer. Slowly living on a single income starts entering every decision you make, where to vacation, where to buy the summer’s outfits, what to have for dinner.
Work beckons, people you know, work you’re familiar with, the office is convenient. Daycare, expressing, overtime, stress, how does it balance out. Calculators such as cost of working are only taking into account the added cost of working with a child. The Living Wage calculator gives a better idea of gross earnings needed to live in various USA towns. Here, in Sydney, Australia, the cost of daycare is compared to having another mortgage payment going off each month.
In countries where medical and retirement benefits are not socialised at all, or only partially, other issues also arise. If you are not in the work force, how do you cater for your retirement or your medical expenses? Certainly for families where a partner’s benefits can cover the other partner this is less of an issue so long as the relationship continues. Similarly for retirement benefits, if one income can make an adequate contribution each period towards a future retirement, many decisions are easier to make. But this post is not a social commentary, except to keep in mind sometimes going back to work is the only long term viable decision.
For me, once there was a second child, the costs of working outweighed the salary most reasonable jobs would pay. By reasonable, I mean a job that would still let me be home every evening to care for my family. There were certainly jobs that paid more, but for me, what was the use of working 60 hour weeks when you have children at home that needed caring for, your children?
