By Jim Brown
A report says more American mothers are choosing to stay at home to raise their children.
A new analysis of Census Bureau data finds that more than 10.5 million kids were being raised by full-time stay-at-home moms last year — up 13% since 1994. Cheryl Gochnauer, a stay-at-home mom and founder of Homebodies.org, says there has been long-time desire among moms to become stay-at-home parents, but there has not always been the opportunity.
She believes work-from-home options have contributed to the rise in stay-at-home moms, and labels home computers as the “number-one catalyst” in that rise. Computers, she says, allow working moms to transfer much of what they do in the office to the home front. As she puts it: “It kind of lets them have their cake and eat it, too.”
Saying she is encouraged by the trend, Gochnauer says the idea of “family taking priority” is really starting to catch fire.
“When I became a stay-at-home mom eight years ago, I felt like I was all alone, that I was really like a pioneer,” she says. “That's not entirely true because there were lots of stay-at-home moms out there — but they just didn't get the recognition that they do nowadays.
“Now you have magazines and TV shows doing articles and features on how great it is to be able to be home with your kids.”
Also, Gochnauer says, many women have “done the math” and realized that after they subtract the cost of daycare, a car, eating out, clothing, and other expenses related to working, it might not be worth it economically. But she makes it clear she is not recommending that every mom leave the workforce for home, because according to her, “a woman's place is wherever God calls her.”
(This article courtesy of Agape Press.)
