Why I want to be a Working Mom

I believe coming back to work or staying at home is a personal decision. Families have to decide what is best for them. I respect the decision of any family. What I do not like is that my decision of coming back to work is being challenged by so many people as I explained in my last post. Some of the comments are really offensive, or try to convince me I have not really considered the situation. But I have! These are my personal reasons, that other families may share or not:

I believe it is the best for the baby:

• I think that going to a kindergarden helps the baby to develop her skills. It is more interesting and more stimulating to be not only at home with us, but also in a kindergarden with other children. She will learn new things and discover another part of the world.
• It also helps for social skills - she will be in contact with other babies. They will imitate each other, learn to share, learn that there are more kids in the world! She will start playing with them.
• She will also develop better communication skills as she has to interact with more people.
• I have a baby girl and I want to set example. What message would I give her if I decide to stop working because I am a woman?! I want that when she is older, she learns to be independent. She finds a job that she loves and makes her feel well and develops her skills. I want that if she wants to live with a man and have a family, she stays with the man because she loves him, not because she depends on him!

I also believe is the best for my family:

• Again this is very personal, but in our case, my husband and me share interests and have similar jobs. We discuss many things that happen in our job together. If I would be at home and can only talk about the new offers that are in the Lidl, our relationship would suffer it.
• Financially it also makes sense. Why to leave all the responsibility to one person? Nowadays in our IT industry things change fast, sometimes there are lay-offs, or maybe one of us wants to change job in the future. If we both have a job that can support the family, the financial risk is also minimised, and with a child depending on us, I think that is important. And of course two salaries in one family has more advantages: from healthcare support in case there is a problem, or being able to offer better education to our child, to enjoying more holidays together.

I even believe is better for the society. As mentioned in previous post, Germany is the second country in Europe in terms of bigger gender pay gap. I think this is sad. Why to leave all the responsibility to only half of the society? What happens with the wasted talent of the other half? I believe men and women should share the paternity/maternity leave so there is no impact in hiring a man or a woman.
These are the reasons I usually give when people challenge my decision, I do not want to change anybody's mind, but my mind is very clear!