Mothers.. Help!

I am in my 30's. 1. What kinds of paid work did you do before you had children? I traveled to various cities selling furniture at liquidation promotions run by an national liquidation company..that was the last job prior to becoming a mom. 2. What kinds of paid work did you do when your children were preschool / school age? I cleaned new construction housesto make them ready to sell, I then started babysitting for a local teacher during the day. dd was not in kindergarten yet. 3. Why did you choose to go out to work or not go out to work? My dd had attachment difficulties and I couldn't leave her with a sitter, not even family. Both jobs I did allowed me to stay with her 24/7 4. Do you feel that whether mothers work or not affects their children? In what way? It depends on the situation, as well as the children. It can be positive and negative. Also, depending on their ages. 5. what do you think the major consequences of mothers choosing to work are? One is that you have less control over what is influencing your child and how. Another is that your child learns responsibility and fiscal awareness by your example. 6. Do you believe in hiring nannies/babysitters for your children? Why? If I was required by circumstances to work, then yes. If I needed help with a large family, yes. But I am a "control freak" and that just gives someone else too much control over how my children are raised, and I don't believe that anyone could do a better job than I can.

I'm only going to respond as pertains to my parented children, I'm pretty sure that's what you meant anyway, correct??? I'll be 35 in a few weeks or so. 1. Medical Transcriptionist in a hospital. 2. The same, only I came home and have worked at home for the past eight years. I've done this work for 17 years, coming home was just the cherry on top for me. 3. I chose to stay home with my children, but still have to work for the paycheck obviously. I stay home and work so I can be involved in their lives, their schools, their activities, field trips, when their sick, their friends. I stay home - and work - because my children are my #1 priority, my #1 responsibility, my work allows this - so for me it works, I feel pretty lucky and it most definitely suits my personality. My mom was a 15 yo single mother. She worked seven days a week to make ends meet. I was home alone from the age of 6 on. To this day, I don't know my mom, I respect her for what she had to do and for doing it, but I don't know her, never eaten a meal with her until I was a adult, and she still works seven days a week. My kids were not going to grow up that way, it was a personal choice on my part. 4. Not necessarily the working, but how much, what type - too many variables, but really it all boils down to the parents. A dear friend of mine is a prosecutor, just had her first child. I asked if she was going to cut back her hours or stay home, she asked me what she would be teaching her daughter if she gave up everything she had worked so hard for, that made me think and she was right - in her situation. For me, the only way was to work from home. Has it been good for my children - absolutely! Honestly, I don't think its the working or not, it's the entire family unit. We all do what we have to do, it's what we do when we're with our family that really matters. 5. Agree with aspenhall above. And I will say my kids are rarely ever sick. 6. For myself - there is no need, I'm here. I've never had a problem with the whole babysitter thing, you do what you have to do!! I do have a problem with the Nanny issue, just from how it appears the nanny is actually doing the raising of the child, taking care of the house, always there even when not necessary. Being a parent has no part-time option, JMHO.