Tag Archives: Staying at home and raising a family

Transition from Work to a Stay at Home Mom

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Transitioning to being a stay at home is not an easy thing to do. You have an entire new human to take care of. Your whole schedule is no longer your own and you are running your own things based on another person. I know me it was challenging however with the right tools I was able to adjust and now I feel like time in the day goes extremely fast!

Vincent and Felix!

If you are not familiar with my blogs, I have said previously that I used to live in Quebec. I before that, was in Nova Scotia. I grew up here. When I was living home and had never moved away I was in fact working. I was a disabled support worker and I also talk more about that here. It was such a rewarding and inspiring job that leaving it was a bit of a sad feeling for me. Leaving this work place that I was at for over 8 years was something that needed to be done but it never made things easier either.

After quitting this job due to moving to a different province, I never worked. I went to school to be able to learn French and obviously learn how to communicate more with my spouse’s family. He is from Quebec so his family speak French, I knew very little so instead I was able to sign up for French Classes through the government and get paid to go to school. It was nothing like if I was actually working however it was something and that was better than nothing.

**If you like what you are reading through out these blogs, and are looking at ways to financially support the blog, please consider checking out my Ko-Fi link here. You will NEVER be pressured to contribute to towards put any type of money towards the blog however if the thought has crossed your mind, here is a great way to help a stay at home mom provide some financial relief for her family.

And if you have not noticed the crazy amount of parenting and or baby type blogs you will find out that I ended up school and by then I was nearing the end of my first pregnancy. I wouldn’t have bothered to apply for work since the fact that I was nearing birth for my 1st I probably would never have been hired based on a few months work anyways.

I love being home with my son’s however I do find it very challenging to find a routine. If I was to tell you I didn’t miss the aspect of leaving and making a real paycheck I would be lying. I miss being able to make money and save where as the only income I have right now is the monthly allowance for having children basically, which of course does not amount to a whole lot. You can read more about why my partner and I decided that I would not work once we started to have kids here.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com



Regardless though, I am trying my best to make something happen at home. I stream live on Twitch 2 days a week, Monday and Friday. I also have between 3-4 blogs being released every week which also helps to fill my time. I also do crafts and paintings and some creating as well because I think it is great for me to keep in touch with things I did before or still do since having Children. That being said they do not all bring in any money if any at all currently however it is a work in progress and hopefully by the end of the year I will be able to re-write this.

So how was it to go from being out in school and class all day or working all of the time trying to make a living, to staying at home taking care of a household and two little boys? It was not to bad. One of the biggest things I find is that time flies by most days. I am sure anyone you know who has any amount of children will tell you, “Wow! They sure do grow up fast don’t they”. Well you would not be wrong. I feel like I am just having my 1st son and here I am a few months into having another son. Time flies when you have children and before you know if they are back talking and sassy to you!

One thing that has kept me sane the whole time being home (Not just with being a stay at home mom, but also dealing with Covid too!) is having an agenda. I talk about my obsession with them and what I look for here. I find being able to schedule things even if it something as simple as date night with the boyfriend, crafts with the kids, time to blog and prep for the month ahead, network and chat on social media. Scheduling things (As hard as it may be with children!) is important for me to keep track of where I am going, where I want to be, and what I can do to make things go smoother. It doesn’t have to be just about appointments either!

For me I think the transition was pretty simple due to the fact that I was in school before and not working my shift work job before. I also am sure that if people are used to doing over time and suddenly working from home that it also may be challenging too. Or maybe they plan on only taking so much leave and going right back to work. That I can imagine will also be tough too. Knowing that my spouse could be away for a long time with his job, or even months, I think has made this a bit easier at least on myself. The idea of being a constant in my children’s lives while there can be so much uncertainty is a huge things for me. Regardless of what you do, there will be challenges, but nothing you can’t over come!

Why I Decided Not to Work While Raising Children

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Before I begin, I want to make it clear that I do understand that in some families do not have the option to not work when it comes to raising a family. They may have debt or bills to pay or they may even just like the idea of working in general. There are various reasons why some families decide to have two working parents. There is no right or wrong way for this, this is simply my opinion and reasoning why my spouse and I decided not to send me back to work, just yet! There is no right or wrong way to raising children especially if you decide to go to work or you want to be a stay at home parent too.

Growing up my Mom was a stay at home mom. My dad used to lay floors when we were younger, and as we got older he took his long haul trucking course. Eventually my mom would start watching a few kids from people she knew, she watched a brother and a sister for many years and than another little boy after they had moved away. This was her way of making some extra money on the side. She also would do little crafts, hemming clothes for people, and knitting and crocheting various items to sell also through friends and family. Once we were old enough and teenagers she did start working in a vet hospital and we were left to fend for ourselves. Just kidding, we were just fine! If I could give an age I would say this was when we were in junior high. She was no longer needed to babysit the last little guy she had and she was given this opportunity to work she took it. Can you blame her? I would have too!

Growing up I liked the fact that my mom was home with us. It made things easier. We never stayed at school for lunches we came home. She had lunch ready and we walked back and forth. It was nice to know that a hot lunch was waiting there for us. If we were sick at school or something happened she was available and able to pick us up if needed too. It was really convenient especially since my dad had to go away during the week for both of the jobs that he did when we were growing up. Having a parent home was a good feeling and I want my kids to also feel that too.

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Another reason why we decided that I would not be going back to work is we would like to have 3 kids. To put 3 kids in daycare right now with the cost of everything is quite expensive. Due to my partner and his annual income I don’t believe we would be able to get a subsidy for child care. Not to mention, in my previous jobs that you can read about in this blog here, I worked with disabled adults in their homes. This was shift work and over nights and weekends. My spouse has a job where he could be away for weeks or even months and for me to work those kind of hours and paying any type of childcare would just not be practical. In order for me to do the 9-5 hours I would need to continuously work with a company for a very very long time and even still people don’t get those type of hours. Plus, my mom currently works in a hospital during the day time and my dad is only off 2 days per week. I cannot rely on them to watch my kids for me to work. And paying premium hours for someone else to watch them really doesn’t make sense not to mention finding someone to do it would be a feat on it’s own. If I was to get a smaller job for minimum wage I would also essentially be paying for childcare. The profit that I would be making in terms of paying for childcare and whatever is left just does not make any sense in the big picture.

Another primary reason why I am not working is that when my boyfriend and I decided to have children, we wanted to raise them. We did not want to have to rely on someone else or daycare to raise them. It is so simple to have children and go back to work and pick your children up at the end of the day. We wanted to be a constant in our children’s lives. Especially with their dad having to travel for his job also we did not want to have him away and then myself also gone. We wanted one of us to be home and able to teach and watch our kids grow. It just made complete sense to us to have it this way.

This being said, will I ever go back to work? I am hoping to have some sort of business started as a work from home type of deal. That way I can stay home and still have a small income to save money or help a little with bills too. If all else fails eventually when we are done having children and they are all in school I would look at maybe doing what my mom did with babysitting a child or two, or maybe even working mornings somewhere. There is going to be a time when I end up going back to work. As. Ice as it sometimes can be sitting home and relaxing with my little ones, I do miss having an income from working and some independence and a pay cheque. Even a few hundred a month could be huge for me in getting back to helping out. But, again, I am in by no means a rush to leave them and start working again!

Was this a hard decision that you had to make when deciding to go back to work or staying at home?

Have you thought about this decision before or after having children?

Let me know in the comments below! I would love to hear your experience also!