A question for all the stay at home moms

[mom2denj]

What are your plans after the kids are grown? Do you plan to stay home and continue keeping your home? Are you planning on going back into the work force? Going back to school? Other? I am just curious, I have been thinking a bunch lately about what I will do when the nest is empty.

[DawnM]

I plan to go back to work! I miss working.....maybe I am one of the odd ones, but I miss it a lot.

 

Plus I will probably have to find a way to help pay for the boys' college!

 

Dawn

Edited September 30, 2010 by DawnM

[Haiku]

I will work while the kids are in college, but the plan for after that is for dh and me to buy a motor home and travel around the country while dh works remotely.

 

Tara

[nukeswife]

I plan to stay home and actually spend time with my husband who will finally have retired from the Navy.

[Dawn in OH]

Since my youngest is only 5 months old, I'm looking at another 16+ years homeschooling. I will be roughly 54 then. I can't see me getting a job after all these years at home. I hated office politics. I hated the commute. I'm probably just going to have my own business working from home and tending to my garden and the animals I hope to have.

[angela in ohio]

I am slowly going to school to get a degree in secondary ed (math and computer science or physics.) I should graduate by the time my youngest goes to high school (we aren't planning to homeschool him in high school.) Since dh works in education, we will still have plenty of time to travel in the summer. By working, I will be able to pay for all of my dc to go to college. I will retire when dh does.

 

We had always said that I would continue to stay home, but I can't see enough to take care of in the home (and for dh,) even with volunteer work and potential grandkiddos, to keep me busy enough. We had ideas about fostering children or missionary work, but I think I can make a big difference right here in our community in a high school.

[laughing lioness]

Write books, help homeschool my grandkids, travel. I wouldn't mind get my M.F.T. license and working p.t as a therapist but by the time I have time to do that I'll probably need more classes again, at which point it would make more sense to get a Ph.D. -which I wouldn't mind doing anyway. I'll keep gardening, some kind of art work, cooking, reading....so many things to do :001_smile:

[Ellie]

My baby is 33, so I've been an empty-nester for a long time.

 

I started a little school at my church when younger dd was 14; she went to school with me. The school operated for a little over 3 years (dd began taking classes at the community college the second year of the school).

 

The year older dd got married, I went to work as a desktop publisher for a commercial real estate company. After 3 years I decided I had had as much fun as I was gonna, and I quit. I have not worked outside the home since then.

 

When I was in California, I owned/administered a homeschool umbrella for 16 years, several years after my own dc were finished with their home education.

 

I've done lots of volunteer work, taken fencing classes, enjoyed time with Mr. Ellie, and started a new career as a professional hula dancer. :D

 

Life is good. :)

[shannatheshedevil]

Nope. I plan on finally getting some much-deserved time with my husband.

[mom2denj]

Since my youngest is only 5 months old, I'm looking at another 16+ years homeschooling. I will be roughly 54 then.

 

This is why I have been thinking about this so much. I will be 55.:001_huh: I wonder if I should even bother to finish my education now and try to get a job at that point. :confused:

[Lady Q]

Write novels. :D

[dirty ethel rackham]

Seeing that keeping a home is not my life's ambition (I suck at it and always associate it with getting yelled at), that will not be my future ambition. I hope to be better at it after my energy-sucking-lovely-make-my-life-worth-living children leave the nest. Before you stage an intervention, this is hyperbole;). I do plan to do something - whether it is be a really awesome Usborne consultant or something else, I plan to earn an income. I can't go back to my former field (computer analyst) because it has left me in the dust.

[yslek]

Go back to school, for sure. I'm not sure what I'll study...too many interests to narrow down. Maybe Linguistics or Classics or something else über-practical like that. :D I can see myself getting a Ph.D. and eventually working in academia. I also hope to have time to do more of the stuff I love: knitting, sewing, baking, yoga, meeting friends for walks & coffee dates. Who knows, maybe I'll even get my home organized. :tongue_smilie:

 

Ellie, I love your quote in your sig. Where did it come from? I may need to borrow that... :001_smile:

[yslek]

Go back to school, for sure. I'm not sure what I'll study...too many interests to narrow down. Maybe Linguistics or Classics or something else über-practical like that. :D I can see myself getting a Ph.D. and eventually working in academia. I also hope to have time to do more of the stuff I love: knitting, sewing, baking, yoga, meeting friends for walks & coffee dates. Who knows, maybe I'll even get my home organized. :tongue_smilie:

:

 

After posting this & re-reading it, I realized that I plan on turning into my dad. :001_huh:

[mom2denj]

Write novels. :D

 

 

Ooooh! I have thought about this too! I have always dreamed about writing children's books. :D

[nono]

Heh. I didn't "settle down" with kids until 40. I had a very intense 20+ years in the business world. I'll be about 60 when my younger is college-aged. So, I think of myself as already being in early retirement.

 

I'm sure I'll continue to handle our investments, probably more actively than I do now. I'll still probably not dust every week. ;)

[Pamela H in Texas]

I am in school currently and hope to work. However, I really doubt I can work full time unless a miracle happens. I'm hoping to share a classroom with someone.

[TXMomof4]

I just want to do the things I don't have time for now. Volunteer work, teaching bible studies, cooking fabulous meals that someone might actually eat, reading, reading and more reading. DH and I hope to travel quite a bit. Assuming his career continues as planned, he will work part-time after he retires and we'll get to just play for a while. I can't wait!

[Guest RecumbentHeart]

Nope. I plan on finally getting some much-deserved time with my husband.

 

:iagree:

[TammyinTN]

I will take care of my sweet husband, darling grandbabies and nuture the older kids. I will never go back to work according to my hubby and kids. I feel I'm needed her so much more.

[elise1mds]

School and hopefully get to travel. I keep telling DH that one day we'll move and I'll open a B&B that I'll run in between teaching college courses. We had our kids young, so I'll have lots of time to accomplish it all! :)

[Parrothead]

I'm planning on being a Wal-mart greeter when dd is finished with homeschool.

 

 

 

Really I plan on going back into the workforce in some type of retail capacity while dd is in college. I've done office work and field work. I've never been in retail. So it will be something new.

[MaMa2005]

Enjoy retirement with DH. DH retires in 3 years so it will be nice to just spend time again with him. Our situation is a little different as we have already raised a DS and DD who are in their 30s. Then we had time to ourselves for several years. We started over in 2007 when we adopted our son from China.

[Denise Allen]

If I am not too old when we are done homeschooling I plan to go back to work. We will need money to go visit all the grandkids. :)

I used to be an elementary teacher, but don't think I would go back into teaching. I would probably pick something else that interests me. Maybe work at Starbucks....:tongue_smilie:

[FO4UR]

I'll be 45 when my youngest turns 18yo. I plan on updating my education while my dc are in the high school years (I have a BSE music ed) and working...I may or may not continue on in music. If I had to choose right now, I'd want to go into OT if I could pay for the schooling.

 

I can't imagine myself at home without children to dote on...:tongue_smilie: I can't stand doing housework so I'd work just to be able to pay someone else to clean my house. LOL

[Mrs Mungo]

If I hs my youngest all the way through I will be 45 (at least for a few months), dh will be 42 when he can retire. We'll probably both get other jobs at that stage in our lives, but they will be *jobs*, not careers. Starbuck's sounds like a good idea, I'll steal that one. ;) We plan on getting the kids through college, buying an RV and seeing the bits of the country we have missed out on through the years.

Edited September 29, 2010 by Mrs Mungo

[MamaT]

I'll be 53 when my youngest is 18, so I hope dh is retired and we can just travel and have fun!

[Mejane]

I'll be 55, so I shall retire to Europe where I'll spend my days sipping wine and people-watching at outdoor cafes.

[mom2denj]

Hmm...Starbucks, that sounds fun and yummy!

[Dawn in OH]

I'll be 55, so I shall retire to Europe where I'll spend my days sipping wine and people-watching at outdoor cafes.

 

That sounds good. I could spend a few years there and be back in time for the grandchildren to start arriving.

[NanceXToo]

My husband owns a small business. Maybe I'll hang out with him a bit. Or maybe I'll do some volunteer stuff. Or maybe by then he'll have other people spending their time working in his shop and we can go travel and fun stuff like that. Maybe I'll spend more time on my writing. Who knows! :D

 

But go back to my "old" job of being a legal secretary? Nah!

[kristavws]

I will be 50 when my youngest goes off to college. If the business portion of our farm continues to grow, it will be a full-time job by then.

 

I am hoping that by the time my youngest graduates from college, the farm will be making enough money that my dh can retire, and we can just spend more time together.

 

Krista

[momofkhm]

What are your plans after the kids are grown? Do you plan to stay home and continue keeping your home? Are you planning on going back into the work force? Going back to school? Other? I am just curious, I have been thinking a bunch lately about what I will do when the nest is empty.

 

My plans or dh's plans? :tongue_smilie:

 

My plans would be to continue to stay home, keep the house. DH plans for me to re-enter the work force.

[May]

I'll be 54 when youngest dd graduates. I probably will step up my volunteer work and continue to be the keeper of our home.

[sassenach]

I'm a young mom, so I have career plans after the kids are out. I will start taking classes in about 5 years, to work towards my RN. My hope is to be done with it sometime during my kids' high school years. I will be 41 when my youngest graduates hs.

 

But best laid plans and all that..... who knows what will actually end up happening!

[elegantlion]

I plan to write, sit on my deck and sip coffee as the school bus goes by, and then take late morning naps. Then I'll get up and write some more. If dh is working less we'll buy an RV and travel more. He can fish while I write or take pictures of our travels.

 

I have some friends that hope to start a publishing house, publishing short stories. They hope to get going in the next few years and I'll probably do some distribution for them in my state.

 

Aside from that I will relish in my introverted nature for a few years. Hopefully I'll find some social outlets so I don't end up like the author in Stranger than Fiction. I may be eccentric, but maybe not that eccentric.

[Kim in Appalachia]

My youngest is in K this year, so I have a long time to go. It seems to far off to really plan. Life has a way of throwing curve balls.

 

I'll be 53 when my youngest is done. But I would imagine that even before he's done I'll have more free time. If we are still where we are, or nothing else strange happens, I could work part time with my dh. Since when my last one is at home that means will have helped 3 through college. Work could be good. I could stay home, which is what I had always planned. Who knows how I'll feel at 53?

 

Right now, my only thought when hearing that question is, I plan to not drive anywhere for weeks at a time, and spend lots of time cleaning my house.

 

But really, I may even do something when I'm down to 2 at home. If I have 2 in high school and 1 of those 2 one is taking classes at a college, I will have more time than I do now.

[coralloyd]

I'll be 45 when ds turns 18. I would like to get involved in children's ministry and child care to give young moms a break. I would also like to go to culinary school. Have all the college kids hang out at my house. Maybe I'll take up photography and gardening. We already take weeks and months at a time and travel the country in our rv, so I don't know how much I'll want to do later, but we'll see.

[Dobela]

I will be 56 and dh will be 63 when Princess BB gradultes from high school. I am hoping that I will still be home thenh. My ds will be in his mid 20s and hopefully married to a fine woman by then that would love for me to be an involved grandma :D.

[AFwife Claire]

I will take care of my sweet husband, darling grandbabies and nuture the older kids. I will never go back to work according to my hubby and kids. I feel I'm needed her so much more.

 

This is my plan too! With at least 8 kids, hopefully I'll have lots of grandbabies, LOL. I am hoping to become a doula when my youngest can do schoolwork somewhat independently. I'm almost 38 right now, so maybe another 8 years or so? We'll see the personality of this baby I'm carrying now, as well as if we have anymore down the road! I don't plan on doing anything fulltime, however, even babysit grandkids!

[TravelingChris]

It is only a few years away for me since my youngest is a ninth grader. I don't know where I will be living so I am not sure. I may teach in CC or in a homeschool academy. I don't see myself as working full time since I have chronic illnesses that keep me from having enough health for that. I think I will do things that I don't have time or energy to do now since I am still homeschooling two and taking the oldest to school or the bus stop often enough. I will read more, join a book club, join a bible study, volunteer, maybe be a CASA volunteer, and be able to travel more with my husband and do things like meet him for lunch occasionally.

[DarlaS]

I figure I'll pursue some sort of education (even if it's just classes that interest me) and my hobbies.

 

It just dawned on me this is what my kids are doing now. :001_huh:

[MissKNG]

I will go back to work when I'm done home schooling the girls.

[Year Round Mom]

Our kids are still young, but so are we! DH and I love our season of life now (raising the kiddies), but also look forward to the next season (years and years and years from now). He'll be retired from the military, and we'll be looking to do some sort of ministry for our next life season. I want to go to school for biblical counseling, and he's currently working on his MDIV, so we'll have options :)

[Denisemomof4]

My youngest is adopted and has Reactive Attachment Disorder. It's extremely difficult to deal with, but I've done such extensive research that I think I need to use it to help other children. So I may take in foster children.

 

My dream would be to care for anyone, adult or kid, who has Downs Syndrome. I've loved DS people since I was a kid myself and worked with some mentally challenged kids as a teen.

 

I also LOVE the elderly and would probably volunteer with them.

 

That aside, I have a farm and rescue animals. I'll always do that. I would LOVE to have endless hours pampering them, reading, etc. I will be 58 when my youngest is done, and if I'm blessed enough to live until that age, I will focus on pampering myself since the previous three decades were all about pampering everyone ELSE but myself.;):hurray::party::cheers2:

[Night Elf]

My youngest is 12 and I'm back in school now. I'm in education with the intent to be a Montessori teacher. Hopefully, it won't take me until my youngest is out of high school to finish college. Therefore, I plan to start working before she's finished high school. I'm doing it because I really, really miss working with very young children. And the reason I'm in school right now and not working is because I can't be away from the kids right now for that long. My school isn't every day and I can do my homework around their homeschooling. This way, I'm learning about children and working with children as part of my education and I'm on the road to having a better job than if I were just to seek a daycare job right now. It's a Win-Win for me.

[sbgrace]

I was a high school teacher. I think I could step back in now at six years out but I really don't think after another 12 years I'll feel like I can jump back into that world. That's unfortunate because I am learning so much from homeschooling and parenting that I would have liked to bring back to a classroom.

 

I also don't know if my special needs child will ever be out of the home though I hope and work for that.

 

If I can find something that fits me though and life circumstances allow I'd be happy to start working again when my boys are gone.

[Wheres Toto]

DH is 53 now so we are hoping that he'll be able to retire in 10 or 15 years, when our younger kids will be teenagers. At that point, we'd like to travel or open a B&B/run fishing charters.

 

So I probably won't ever go back to work (other than watching a couple other kids) unless it's for ourselves (B&B) or I have no choice in the matter.

 

I did the working mom thing until my oldest was 11 and I have no desire to do it again. I don't miss it at all.

[MotherGoose]

I don't ever want to "go back to work" as in 9 to 5. But if I can continue to freelance write, garden, maybe sell some produce at the farmer's market, start my own business, something like that, I'd like it. But I want to do those things WHILE I am homeschooling.

[gpsings]

Yeesh! I don't know what I'll do. My youngest is 3, so I still have 15 years ahead of me, and I'm 37 now. I don't know. Maybe I will, just to lump some money into savings so maybe my dh retire faster and come home to spend some time with me. :)