[onewhippedpuppy]

Just my perspective watching my wife who is a stay at home mom - the kids become her purpose in life, her accomplishment, basically everything. So after 18+ years pouring everything into them, suddenly it's all GONE. Much like many of us who take pride in a career, work your way up the ladder, make a positive impact to your employer or industry........what if that all just went away tomorrow? Much like people who retire with no hobbies to occupy their time, I think it just leaves a huge gaping void in their lives. I encourage my wife to go out and do fun stuff, hang out with friends, etc because someday she's going to need some help filling that void. I also hope that when our kids (3/6/9) are all in school she will go back to working part time, to help give her another purpose beyond kids.