When Emilly Rousseau, 36, sat down with her husband to discuss childcare after the birth of their daughter four years ago, she realised that she wouldn’t be going back to work. Rousseau had worked full time ever since graduating, in marketing, writing and publishing. She loved it, and had planned to return to work when her firstborn was a year old. But when she was 20 weeks pregnant, they left Australia – where they’d been living for five years – to move home to London, where she grew up. She found herself unemployed for the first time in her adult life. The couple now have two children, four and two, and she has not returned to work since. They live on one income of £100,000. Here, she reveals the things she wishes she’d have known before she became a stay-at-home mum.
I really struggled. It was a year and a half with me and my two kids at home by myself and I found it really difficult. Up until that point, I had always told myself I’d go freelance and pick up more clients, and go back to work eventually, but after realising the childcare financial commitment, I realised that staying at home was what I had to do for the foreseeable future.
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Motherhood is the hardest job in the world
