Your children are the most important people in the world to you. They deserve your full attention and you have gladly chosen to stay home and care for them. You know you've made the right decision.

Your choice to be a stay at home parent has come with a price though. Careful budgeting alone cannot offset that missing second income.

Yes, you and your spouse are getting by and your family is enjoying quality time together, but you have sacrificed "income and benefits" to be home to raise your children instead of using daycare.

Depending on your profession, your financial sacrifice can be very significant after a few years. In Ann Crittenden's book "The Price of Motherhood," she calculated that a couple that once earned over $80,000 annually could lose over $1 million dollars in lifetime earnings after they have a child and one parent, most often the mother leaves work and stays at home.

Your retirement planning is in jeopardy as well.

No matter what level your previous earnings were, there are long term consequences on your finances for the years spent raising children instead of earning a paycheck. Aside from salary, you are not earning any retirement income from an employer or medical insurance, both of which are quite valuable.

And few parents when they decide to stay home consider that they will cease to accrue any social security benefits from the federal government. No income for you means that your benefit rating with social security is stagnating.

It's a shame that there has to be such a cost for you to stay at home with your children. You certainly value your work as a parent. It's nice having time to nurture your children's education and interests. You even get to have fun, and you do not envy the scheduling hassles that working parents face as they juggle job commitments and children's appointments.

You are not alone either. More men and women are deciding to leave the career track and stay at home with their children. There is a growing trend for families to decide to make it with only one person working outside the home. A report from the U.S. Census Bureau in 2001 showed that in 1998 59% of mothers with infants worked at a full time job, but that had dropped to 55% in 2000, only 2 years later. The value and appeal of actually being the one to raise your children is undeniable and more families are pursuing this important goal.

Being a stay at home mom or dad has many positive points, but you still miss being able to work and earn an income. You want to continue developing your skills and creativity. Maintaining your professional skills that you worked hard to get before starting a family nags at the back of your mind. You wish you had a way to transform your time into money without compromising your need to be at home.

You can enjoy the financial freedom of a second income again.

There is a revolution starting in our society. People are deciding that they don't want to struggle through a traffic jam every day and spend 10 hours at an office away from their families in order to live. It's time for you to start learning how people are earning a comfortable living by doing work at home. You can start a home based business, raise your children, and have a profitable professional experience at the same time.

Bringing in a second income and avoiding childcare costs would be doubly profitable. Think of all the important things in your financial life that you won't have to put off anymore.

• Taking nicer vacations
  
  
• Getting that bigger house your growing family needs
  
  
• Retirement Savings
  
  
• Funding your children's college education

After starting your home based business you won't have to scrimp and save so much. Yes, you will still bargain hunt because it's smart and you're good at it, but you won't have to feel guilty about that occasional dinner out and taking vacations as a family can still be possible.

There is no arguing that the work you do as a parent is exceedingly valuable. The salary research company Salary.com even attempted to calculate what a salary for a stay at home mother should be. After factoring in everything from childcare, transportation services, accounting, laundry, cooking, management, and much more, Salary.com came up with a figure of $90,000 a year. This sounds like a lot but it was based on a 90 hour work week.

As nice as it is to know that your work as a stay at home mom or dad is worth nearly six figures, there is no salary fairy out there that is magically going to start writing you checks. You need to take action and earn money your own way. The way to do this is with your own home based business. As your own boss, you will be able to integrate earning an income into your other valuable and important duties.

With the income from your work from home business, you will be able to enjoy the benefits of financial security. You won't have to worry so much if your spouse loses their job. In fact with your business income you could even give your spouse  the freedom to pursue a career change that they have been dreaming of or even work the business together.

Work From Home Site HBWM Chosen As Forbes Top 10 Best Sites for Working Mothers

Lesley Spencer Pyle has longed been known as the go-to Work-At-Home Expert BigNews.biz - July 16, 2010 Stay at home moms who want to start thier own work at home business will find lots of support and expert advice from HBWM. Home-Based Working Moms (HBWM) has long been known as the premier site where work-at-home moms meet...

To start earning money for today, for your retirement, and to give your children every advantage, fill out the questionnaire below. You will then receive a phone call from me or one of my associates. We'll conduct a brief interview to be sure this opportunity is a good fit for you and then you'll receive information about a home based business opportunity that will let you start supporting your family in every way while working from home.