Parenting

I Don’t Regret My Years At Home With My Kids Because My Self-Esteem Did Not Depend On My Money Or Career

That’s a damned good thing, too.

Photo by Jordan Rowland on Unsplash

I don’t make a lot of money these days. I cobble together an income from genre books written under a pen name, some freelance copywriting, SEO and proofing — and, of course, my Medium writing, which so far is nearly nothing.

But even when I had the benefit of a full-time career, I made a modest income. I used to be the editor of a daily newspaper, and at the apex of my journalism career, made all of $40K per year. I accepted long hours, heavy responsibility and modest pay because I believed I was doing important work and I loved it.

Besides, I’ve been paid less. For several years after my two children were born I made $0.00 per year as a full-time mother. I frequently read opinion pieces stating that women should never do that. They’ll be bored. (I was never bored.) They’ll be poor. (Yep, that was true for me.) They’ll regret it later. (Not for one second.)

From an early age, I knew I wanted to have kids and I knew I wanted to be a writer.

I also knew that I didn’t want to follow the Standard American Parenting method. I didn’t know the term “attachment parenting,” but I…