Back to Work after the Baby?

Written by Joy Emery

A newborn changes many dynamics in the home and impacts your career. One issue that always comes up when expecting is whether or not the mother will continue to work outside the home once the child arrives.

Christians can be quite vocal in presenting their cases for both sides. Mothers are torn between their new passions for parenting and the tugs of their vocational calls in life. The parents must pray about God’s will for their lives at this pivotal time and trust Him with both their children and their careers.

I have been on both sides of the working-mother issue without changing my convictions regarding parenting. I worked outside the home until my oldest children were three and four, at which time I became a stay-home mom. My work outside the home was a clear-cut assignment from the Lord, but my priorities were my children’s sense of family, security (both when with me and away from me), and their growth and development.

My first concern was my children’s care when away from me. In seeking care for my children as babies, my husband and I decided that a church childcare would best match our personal beliefs and values. After negotiating a longer maternity leave than the norm, we selected a church childcare that was close to my office. I was able to continue to nurse the children and drop in on them during breaks and at lunch. Being close in proximity gave me added security that we were able to monitor their care.

When our children began to move up to larger classes with fewer teachers per child, we looked for alternatives. Our prayer was for God to once again make it clear whether or not I was to work outside the home. Once again, God made it clear that I needed to be in my work assignment and provided a degreed, elementary education teacher to stay in our home with our two children.

At the end of our one-year commitment to each other, our childcare worker was offered a position at the school where her children attended. Her decision to work at her children’s school was the perfect fit for her family. We once again prayed about the solution for our family, and it was vastly different than before. God made it clear that it was time for me to be home. Several months later, we were expecting our third child, and within that year our oldest child began kindergarten. Once again, we had peace about my career and role in the home.

Tips for Family and Career Decision Making

In making the difficult decision regarding career and family, the following tips helped keep us grounded and in the middle of God’s will for our lives.

Know that your focus changes when children are added to your family. A successful career is not your primary assignment from the Lord. Although you may be led to continue working, your goals and objectives in the workplace must be filtered through what is best for your child. You must be willing to ask for flexible hours, to cut back on the number of hours you work, consider part-time employment, or to quit your job to meet the needs of your family.

Continue evaluating your child’s care. Keep revisiting your decision to work as your child moves through various developmental stages. What was a great decision for his care as an infant might prove to be inadequate for him as a two-year-old.

You must have peace about your decision to work and also be willing to step out in faith should God lead you to quit your job. The most important element in making career decisions while mothering was the peace that I had from the Lord in relationship to working outside the home or being a stay-home mom. Don’t make a career or parenting decision based on what you want, but on what God wants.

Know that God is going to provide for your family’s income and your children’s needs regardless of whether you work outside the home or not. You can trust God to provide when you are not with them just as much as you can should you quit your job to be home with the children. Seek His will and obey when He makes it clear.

Joy Emery is a former education minister and currently is a Christian Education Internet Producer for LifeWay.com. She lives with her husband, Chris, and three children in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee and serves in the adult Sunday School ministry at Hermitage Hills Baptist Church in Hermitage, Tennessee.

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