Some of you already know
that I made the decision to be done working in early childhood education
earlier this summer. A lot of
prayer, tears, and late-night discussions with my husband went into that
decision. I’d been doing childcare in one capacity or another for the past 9
years. I briefly toyed around with
the idea of going back to school, and quickly realized that wasn’t for me. I had absolutely no peace about the
idea of changing careers. But the
thought of leaving my career gave me more peace than I’ve had in a long time.
Naturally, a decision
like this doesn’t come without a lot of questions from curious and
well-intentioned loved ones: Why would you choose not to look for another job
given the shape the economy is in?
Why would you stay home if I don’t have any children? How can you call yourself a feminist if
you’re going to make such a decision?
And the most commonly asked question: What do you do all day?
The last question needs
its own post, because I do a lot more than you might think. I don’t think I’ll fully realize
exactly how much I do until I see it all written down, haha!
There are a LOT of
reasons I made this decision. I’ll
be writing more posts about this in the future, but here are the main reasons:
1.) Economy.
I can’t work full-time,
and with my level of education I can’t make very much. A typical part-time job
in early childhood would essentially pay for the business clothes, the car
insurance, and the gas to get there, and that would pretty much be it. If I had a good reason to keep doing
it, that would be fine, but since I don’t want to keep doing it, it’s not worth
it. And since I am not driving my
car for work, my husband and I get to put my car down as a leisure car on our
insurance policy. The savings are
decent.
2.) Stress level and emotional health. The last couple years have been rough, to put it mildly. It wasn’t too much in the moment, but
it adds up. When I got to the
point where I couldn’t even care about myself anymore, I knew it was time to be
done. I need to have time for the
things I enjoy doing or I wilt.
Having time to take care of myself and knit for my Etsy shop on my own
schedule has done a world of good.
3.) More time for volunteering and ministry.
When I was working 20-25+ childcare hours a week, I didn’t have any time
or energy left over for other people.
Now that I’m working for myself, I can make my own schedule and help out
with various service projects through church and whatnot. I have to be careful not to overdo it,
but it’s really nice to have the option.
4.) Avoiding the “two-income” trap. If I got a bachelor’s degree and continued on with my career, we’d
fall into the two-income trap when it comes time for me to stay home with the
kids, which I absolutely want to do.
In the two-income trap, a couple gets used to having a certain amount of
money and a certain lifestyle that can only be sustained if both people are
working. In most cases, they
either feel like they don’t have the option of going back to only one income,
or one of them leaves the workforce but they take a serious financial hit.
5.) The field of early childhood ed is evolving,
and not in a good way. In the past, if you didn’t want to take all the
courses necessary for getting a teaching license, you still had options. You could teach kindergarten, teach in
a parochial school, or do early childhood. But that’s not the case anymore. You need a license to teach kindergarten now. More and more private and parochial
schools require teaching licenses.
Again, if this was what I really wanted to do, it’d be no problem. But early childhood classrooms are not
what they used to be. The stakes
are getting higher. These
classrooms are becoming more academic and less about learning through play,
which I am all for, and which I wouldn’t get to implement if I kept working in
early childhood.
6.) I have time for homesteading and cooking
healthy food. When I was working, I didn’t have time
to eat healthy. My body paid
dearly. I’m cooking a lot more of
my own food now. I have time to
seek out ethical and sustainable food sources.
I got all these ideas
from Shannon Hayes’ book “Radical Homemakers.” Her book discusses the idea of one partner staying home for
practical and economical reasons.
It’s really interesting. I
highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know why people would choose this,
or for people who want to be radical homemakers themselves.
