Re-cap of September:
- My first month back home not working. Yay!
- Our first month trying for baby #2..unsuccessfully but fun anyway :)
- The long weekend we went 5 hours north to the family cottage. Brendan wore his life-jacket that we got him from a yard sale for $2 this summer the whole weekend and loved it!
- Brendan's first haircut (see below!) we went to a kids chain called Melonheads - what a great first time experience! He sat in an airplane shaped bucket seat and played with toys and bubbles, there was a tv on the wall playing cartoons, the hair dresser cut away at his hair while he played, at the end he got a free ride on their resident rocking horse and a certificate with his picture and first lock of hair.
Yeah.... my kid wouldn't wear the cape!
- I joined a local mom and baby group on Facebook and did a mall outing and met lots of other moms and babies. Mostly boys and mostly younger than Brendan. This made me realize that there really aren't too many stay at home moms out there. After talking to many of the ladies I came to the conclusion most really don't want to go back to work, some dreading it but really don't feel that they have any option otherwise. I feel incredibly priviledged to be able to stay home with Brendan and that it is a choice. For whatever reason, I still always feel the need to mention to other women who inquire about my decision to stay home that I do have a university degree..unfortunately they are always surprised to hear this. I hope that in the next few years there will be a shift in thinking and that the stigma now associated with women who stay home to care for their children as being less educated or lazy might be put to rest. Dr. Phil the other day had a show on Stay at Home Moms vs. Working Moms and concluded that working moms have better socialized and rounded children?! I do understand the benefits of daycares for social interaction but what about the stay at home mothers who go out and do activities with their children and teach them manners and other important socialization skills one on one? Apparently in Dr.Phil's books that counts for nothing. sigh.
1 comment:
What a great post. I am glad you posted all that about staying at home because it's such a complex issue. There is no right answer! Maybe kids being better socialized by daycare just means they are more used to sitting at tables in groups at an earlier age and maybe it actually means they learn interpersonal coping strategies earlier. I think any SAHM who takes their child out of the house, whether it's to preschool, drop in groups, or story time, is exposing her kid to socializing. I would think it's only the really isolated kids that suffer. TOTALLY anecdotal/non-research based personal opinions!
ps - after the recent mornings I've had with Megan, I couldn't wait to drop her off at daycare - work is just a relief sometimes! Sitting & drinking my coffee at my desk, not having anyone clinging to me...I admire SAHMs 'cause there's no way I could do it!!
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