We decided near the beginning that I was going to work full-time, she was going to handle the kids and house full-time, and our standard of living would be determined by my paycheck, rather than a desired-standard-of-living determining the number of paychecks.
Makes life easier
My daughter is a social worker as is her husband. They make little money even with both of them full time.
But they looked at the families they work with and decided they did not want their family to be part of the stats you see today. She went part time and works her hours around him (and grandma) .
This has meant a real cutback in their standard of living to say the least.
So she asked her 7year old daughter how she saw her life. My grandaughter thought they were "almost" rich (they are FAR from it) . But that is one rich little girl, mom is almost always there. They do beach days and picnics and after dark walks..no cable TV but lots of books and library trips...they are VERY rich little girls!