New to the stay at home thing

[mannl]

I am a mother of 3 and at the end of July had to give up my full time job as a legal secretary. The reason I did this was because my youngest son (11mths) kept getting sick from being in daycare 5 days per week and he just never seemed to get well (also paying $320.00 per week in child care fees was not fun either).

I am finding the transition from working to staying home somewhat difficulty. I have a 7 year old daughter, 3 year old son and the baby and went back to work when all three of them were 3 months old. I sometimes feel "brain dead" by the end of the day and of course when hubby gets home from work he is "too tired to talk". I think that I really miss the mental stimulation and more importantly the recognition you get for doing a good job. I would really love to hear from anyone else who is , or found it hard in the beginning. Am I being selfish??

[ljhwhite]

if you need the brain stimulation you could always work from home. I did so, mainly for the money side of things, but the fact of feeling like making a contribution is also good. is just a thought.

[mannl]

Thanks for the reply. I have been researching work from home on the internet and have found it quite daunting. I would really appreciate any information you could provide.

[alicesmum]

what about study? doesn't provide social stimulation but gets the old brain cells working!!

i know what you mean about finding the adjustment hard. i am still studying, so still get some mental stimulation but it is very socially isolating being at home so much. i will be finished my postgrad study end of this year, and plan to apply for a couple of great jobs i have heard about for next year, but they will be full-time and don't know if I want to use child care five days per week. so I feel very torn myself about the whole SAHM vs working thing.

i only realised since havign a child how much we all (well, most of us) must struggle with this. it's so difficult!!! i have some sahm friends who cannot understand why you would want to work rather than be at home, but mayeb they've never really enjoyed what they do and the contribution they make as much as I do.

there are other threads with lots of info about working from home if you do a search on this site. good luck! :)

[indomum]

I find the same thing...My solution probably not everyone's favorite, or cup of tea, but it works for me. I join bible study from my church, it consists of young mums with young children, we also asked for help from church people to help us looking after the young children while we are having bible study. We ask contribution from all the mothers who attended to give little money for the volunteers. It gives 2 hours of childfree, and brain stimulating conversation with adults. If there isn't such a bible study from your church, probably you can start one. We are surprised to see that apparently a lot of young mums would like to join in with us, in other words, there are plenty of bored stay-at-home mums....lol

Hope this might help you.

Regards,
Indomum

[mummyb]

i know exactly what you mean ,
i found it so boring at first i thought i would never last till ds was 5.
but i joined a playgroup ,it wasnt anywhere nnear as foul as i thought it was going to be ,it made me realise there where planty of mums lookig for someone to chatt to and my ds got to play with cool toys and makfe friends.
then i joined my churches women morning which is just amazing fun.
they have acreche and ds loves it
i also organsied as many playdates as possible with like minded mums .
if you dont have a playgroup in your area or not one you enjoy you could start a park playgroup just put a poster up in your local area ,say a free play morning at what ever park for ages 0-3 yrs ,bring your morning tea &a smile or what ever suits you but start soemthing .voulunteer take your bub old people love bubs.

what ever you do remember your doing the most important job in the world. goodluck :D

[newmummy07]

Hi - I know exactly how you feel. I have an 8 week old baby boy - it's not easy looking after a baby all day when all the people you normally meet are at work all day.
I'm scared of joining a mothers group as I won't know anyone - sometimes it's easier to hide at home than to put yourself out there.

I definately miss working everyday - having a different kind of purpose than I have now.