If you are visiting this page, you are probably wondering what is a Working Stay at Home Mom, considering becoming one, or you just clicked on the wrong link on your Google search. Oops! 

Well, while you’re here, you might as well learn what a WSAHM is.

What Is a WSAHM?

WSAHM [wa-zam] is an acronym for “working stay at home mom”. A WSAHM (or WSAHD for dads) is a stay at home parent who also works (usually from home), but whose work schedule typically revolves around the kids’ schedules and needs, and not the other way around. 

WSAHMs are becoming increasingly popular, especially in recent years. 

When remote work suddenly became a necessity during the Covid 19 pandemic, the majority of organizations modernized their systems and developed new tools that would allow them to maintain operations remotely to stay afloat. 

This sudden technological shift did not only shake the economy, job market and the whole business ecosystem. It also caused workers to reflect on their values, their family life, the essence of their job and how it could all make sense—as a whole. 

With remote work now having become feasible for a significant part of the workforce, some parents got a taste of being a working stay at home parent, and they don’t ever want to look back.

It’s All About Balancing Work and Family

The job of a working stay at home mom is essentially to have one foot in and one foot out of both her professional and her home life. Her role requires her to wear many hats at the same time and to switch from being a caring mommy to a driven professional at the flip of a dime.

Although at times stressful and challenging, this way of life allows moms to stay at home with their children all the while staying on the job market and earning income.

The WSAHM formula fits work into your family life schedule instead of the other way around. If work-life balance has become a dominant trend in the workforce, WSAHMs are taking it up a notch: they are looking for life-work balance, or better yet, just simply life-balance. 

As stated in a 2023 study completed by McKinsey & Company, “The pandemic showed women that a new model of balancing work and life was possible. Now, few want to return to the way things were. Most women are taking more steps to prioritize their personal lives—but at no cost to their ambition.”

An increasing number of parents are seeing the benefits of the WSAHM way of life and are itching to try it out. 

Are you thinking about becoming a WSAHM or WSAHD? 

Here are eight things to consider: 

1. Have Realistic Expectations

Unless you are a highly experienced professional who makes a substantial hourly rate, you cannot be a working stay at home mom and expect to make a high annual salary. Remember that, as a WSAHM, most of your waking hours will be spent minding your children. 

Likewise, as a working stay at home mom, you need to set aside time for work and respect your professional commitments and deadlines, even if it means putting in a few late nights or weekends when your spouse can take over the minding of the kids for a few hours. 

2. Accept That You Cannot Do It Alone 

I know this is difficult for some to hear, but if you want to adopt the WSAHM lifestyle, you need to accept that you will require support from your spouse, another family member or hired help.

Remember that being a WSAHM is not a one person job. Your spouse will need to be fully committed to this way of life as much as you are. This means that you will have to rely on your spouse on things such as taking over the bedtime routine while you put in a few hours of work, taking on a part of the housework or (gulp!) paying for most of the household expenses.

3. Have a Plan 

Especially at the beginning, it’s difficult to switch into work-mode when you are physically and mentally exhausted from running after little ones all day. 

If you don’t have a detailed work plan, you’ll end up searching the Internet aimlessly for new business opportunities (especially if you are just starting out) or worse, you can end up spending your “work day” online shopping and lying to yourself that you really needed to order your little one’s Halloween costume two months before Halloween. A tired mind plays tricks on you, trust me.

4. Know That You Will Be Even More Sleep Deprived

Not getting enough sleep is a global  ongoing joke between parents. No parent ever says “I regularly get 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep” at a dinner party. Well, if you work around your kids schedules, part of that work will be done while the kids are sleeping (good luck if your kids go to bed late).

So, if it’s crunch time at work or if your schedule has recently slipped because kiddo has been sick, you might end up going to bed pretty late or waking up unacceptably early for a few days.

5. Learn to Respect Your Personal Limitations

It’s so easy to take on more than you can manage, especially as a WSAHM. Many working stay at home moms want to fill the stay at home mom shoes and the professional working mom stilettos, but, let me save you a heartbreak, that is not possible. Know that when you are trying to do everything at the same time, you end up doing nothing at all.

As a matter of fact, a Pew Research survey found that 44% of women say working part time is ideal for mothers of young children. In my experience, a WSAHM can only work 15 to 20 hours per week, even if your children are in school. So, don’t accept professional commitments that will require you to put in more than 20 hours per week at your job. Here’s a typical schedule of a working stay at home mom.

Likewise, don’t commit to extra home responsibilities that will spill into your scheduled work day; those cupcakes for the PTA meeting may have to be store bought—and that’s okay.     

Constantly pushing yourself to the limit is detrimental and unhealthy in the long run, and you should avoid it for yours and your family’s sake. 

6. Remember That, Like SAHMs, You Are Your Children’s Main Caregiver

This means that although you have deadlines and work projects waiting in the background, you will be the one responsible for anything that involves the kids: pickups, drop-offs, after school activities, medical appointments, help with homework and caring for them if they are home from school. If your little ones are not in school yet, then this also includes their preschool education and other activities. 

Like a SAHM, a WSAHM is usually also responsible for a large part of the housework (cooking, cleaning, laundry and other house maintenance). See why you cannot possibly work more than 15 to 20 hours per week?

7. Expect That Most People Around You Will Act Like You’re a SAHM

As a WSAHM, your work schedule becomes almost invisible, because it is done while the rest of the population is busy watching TV, running errands on Saturday mornings or catching up on some z’s.  Therefore, some of your friends and relatives might not understand why you cannot attend that Saturday morning brunch or commit to a Tuesday night book club. 

8. Remember Why You Are Doing This

Being a WSAHM should be beneficial to you and your family. Although you should expect a difficult adjustment period, after some time, you should find a good balance and life should get easier. If being a WSAHM is draining you or making you feel angry and stressed, it might not be a good arrangement for you. 

Is Being a Working Stay at Home Mom Worth It?

That depends on you and your family! 

I have been a mother for over 10 years now and, during my time as a mom, I tried staying at home with the kids and I tried a short stint at working full-time outside of the home. While both had their pros and cons (and both were equally extremely challenging, yet rewarding), neither lifestyle worked for our family, no matter how hard we tried. We found our own kind of balance in the WSAHM formula, and we have adopted this lifestyle since 2016. Learn more about how I became a WSAHM.

Should A Stay At Home Mom Work? 

Again, it depends on you and your family’s needs and expectations! 

The modern chick-fight between working mothers and stay at home mothers has been going on way too long and I am certainly not trying to add a new contender to the fight. The social narrative is unfortunately that working mothers don’t care about their kids and stay at home mothers are lazy; and there are some pretty nasty comments out there about both.

I personally think that the majority of parents aim to do what’s best for their family. The reality is, however, that someone’s ideal could be another one’s nightmare.

I respect any parent who has their children’s well being at heart, no matter what they do between the hours of nine to five.

So, if you’re wondering which path you should take, ignore the mommy-bashing out there. Instead, sit down with your spouse and, together, consider your options, your situation and your finances.

Take your children’s temperament (and yours!) into account, and, finally, go with your gut and have faith! Whatever decision you make, know that your life won’t be perfect (it never is), but it will be perfect for you and your family!

Talk soon,

The Working Stay at Home Mom