Article first published as The Cost of Being a Working Mom on Technorati.

The cost of being a stay at home mom can be high. The amount of lost income, benefits, retirement fund, and other items that you lose when you decide to stay home can be high. On the flip side though is what is saved or earned. Transportation costs are lower, dry cleaning costs are virtually gone, and the biggest expense of all is eliminated: daycare.

What about the working mom? You know, the one who leaves the house everyday, drop her children off at daycare, and spends the day at her paying job. What is the real cost of this? We know that she and her family incur the cost of daycare and all the other expenses that a stay at home mom saves, but those really are not the costs that I am talking about.

The working mom misses out on the little daily things that her children do, whether it is good or bad. She misses on the ‘firsts’ that her baby may do while she is away. She misses out on fully raising her children because she is working.

I am the working mom and it is really hard for me to drop my infant son off at the sitter’s house. It upsets me when he wants to go to her instead of me and I know it’s because he spends the majority of his time with her and I also know that he loves me unconditionally. I am afraid that he is going to take his first steps there or one of those major milestones and I am going to miss it.

I want to be able to stay home with my children, even part time. I want to be able to volunteer at my children’s school, go on field trips, and help out in the classrooms. But with the way things are now it is just not possible, especially when my employer pays for my health insurance.

One day I will be able to stay home more with my children. It is a goal that I am working towards. It is just a matter of time.