Should I? Should I not?

7 years. That's the amount of time I set myself as a stay home mum.

Yesterday my landlord was chatting to me, and casually commented that "the longer you stay at home looking after your kids, the gap between you and your partner will grow. Eventually you won't be able to catch up with him in terms of his knowledge and social circle. And he, being the sole breadwinner, has a huge amount of pressure to keep up with the finances." I think he has a good point there.

Well, well, but I DO LOVE staying at home with my kid(s). It's a once in a lifetime chance to see them grow up, and I'm not too eager to send them off to daycare/kindy/etc since they will soon be subjected to 20 years of institutionalized education anyway.

Besides, whatever you earn in your job will be squandered on their daycare/kindy fees.

On the other hand, I do realized that Tonton can't satisfied my high social needs. With him being my main conversation outlet, I can see that my constant yak yak grinds him down at times.

Is there a way to solve this dilemma? (1) have fun staying with the kids ~AND~ (2) constantly procure new knowledge and interest ~AND~ (3) have a large social outlet ~AND~ (4) help with the home finances? Is a part-time job truly the solution? Hmmm...