Is Women Staying at Home With Their Children Biblical?

DISCLAIMER: I am a happy and fulfilled stay at home mom!

I was talking with a neighbor this week and she asked if I work. I told her that I stay home with the kids and she gave me a smile and a nod, like we’re in some kind of club together. Then she said, “That’s so great, the way God intended!”. I smiled and thought, “What the heck does that mean?”. Is this the way that God intended?

In talking with other Christian wives, there definitely seems to be a general consensus that they bare the role of “stay at home mom” because they are expected to as Godly women. Somehow, this has become a “biblical principle” that I have been told began with creation and I do not get it at all. Looking at Genesis, God makes man and then gives him the responsibility of stewarding all that God has made. Then he says that man cannot do it alone, that he needs someone to help him. After he has made Eve, he does not specify which tasks each are to do. Now this is something I’ve been studying and want to understand but have failed to account for biblically and I admit I may be missing something... if I am please point it out.

To say that men need to be the “provider” is odd when you think about the ancient cultures. It is something that poses an issue because of the way that our societies work today. They are so different from the times of the bible. Yes, someone has to take care of children. In some areas, Joel is better suited for child rearing than I am. In others, I am better suited. Today, people work outside of the home to provide finances and because someone must take care of the children, that means only one person works outside of the home. When people lived and worked in the same place, this was not an issue. Men and women worked together to provide for their families. Maybe men went on hunting parties to provide meat for the winter. But who picked the grain in the field, gathered the berries in the forest and grew the corn? It is all the role of “provider”. I guess what I am saying is that our perspective has landed in an extreme place because of the way providing works now. When we really look at our lives, it still translates. Women that stay at home are providers as well. I take the money that Joel makes and buy food for us. I also buy clothing for our kids and the seeds and plants for my vegetable garden that I tend which will produce food for all of us.

I haven’t really drawn a conclusion for myself on this topic, it is just something that I have been questioning my opinion on. There is overwhelming evidence spiritually and scientifically that children are happier and healthier when their parent is staying home with them, especially in the younger years. Being a mom of two little ones, it is obvious to me. I think that Joel and I have found roles in our life that we are happy with but some may be surprised to hear that I don’t stay home with my kids because it is the “right” thing to do as a Christian woman, I do it because it is right for our family.