Beyond the Gift of Life

In an 1865 poem by William Ross Wallace, he states “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.” Even as far back as almost a century and a half ago, he realized the impact that the nurturers of our nation’s children would have on the world at large. Motherhood remains the most essential and important job on the planet. We should never underestimate or minimize our roles as mothers. Because deciding whether or not to stay home with your young children is such an important, personal decision, it is best to consider all the options and make an informed decision, one that gives you peace and one that will not lead to regret. Because children are our most precious gifts of all, I believe we are called to be good stewards of them. You see, to give your children the gift of life is simply not enough. Each child also fully deserves a commitment of time and attention by his mother and father in order to thrive. The decision to write this book comes from a passionate belief that our first and foremost role as women is to be mothers to our children. Somehow that concept has been diminished with time through our efforts to create equality between the sexes. I do not believe that God ever intended for the sexes to be equal in the sense that both are equally qualified for every job. God has given us different anatomies, different intuitions, and certainly different perspectives on and interpretations of the world we see each day. Each of us has a role to play in maintaining the most important factor influencing our world—the family. Fathers can and do make wonderful stay-at-home parents as well, but nature provides that the mother be the primary caregiver, if at all possible. My hope is that this book will help rekindle the true spirit of motherhood and place a new emphasis on the importance of a mother’s role in raising her children while also raising our awareness of how wonderfully fulfilling that experience can be. If I can convince one mother to make this choice or one reluctant husband to allow his wife, or even himself, to be the stay-at-home parent, then my efforts in writing this book will have truly been worthwhile.