More Moms Staying Home, Following Traditional Role, But No Regrets

(From Knight Ridder Newspapers -- By Emily Arthur)

As little ANDREW ROHRBACH greets the visitors at the door, he immediately begins to introduce some of the members of his family.

"This is my JESSICA," the 3-year-old says as he throws his arms around his older sister.

"This is my JOY," Andrew continues, pointing at the little girl crawling on the floor. advertisement

"And this is my mom."

The mom, VICKIE ROHRBACH, smiles.

"One of the greatest things about being a mom is seeing how my kids react with each other every day," Vickie said. "I love seeing the love they have for each other. I'm happy I'm home to do so."

Vickie and her husband JOHN have chosen to take a more traditional route to raising their SEVEN children -- 14-year-old twin boys, MICHAEL and DAVID, 11-year-old JORDAN, 9-year-old MATTHEW, 6-year-old JESSICA, 3-year-old ANDREW, and JOY, who will be 1 this month.

John works at STUDENT LOAN FINANCE CORPORATION during the day, while Vickie is a STAY-AT-HOME MOM.

Vickie, 41, has her hands full, but she's not alone.

According to a report from THE U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, almost 5.5 million parents -- 5.4 million moms and 98,000 dads -- chose the same stay-at-home route in 2003, the latest year for such stats and the first year they were collected.

And of the moms who do stay at home, 88 percent of them do so primarily to care for their children. THE CENSUS BUREAU calls parents staying at home a growing trend, based on the increasing number of children who live in such households.

In 2002, THE CENSUS BUREAU says there were 10.6 million children with stay-at-home moms. That's UP 13 percent from eight years prior. Overall, THE BUREAU believes about ONE-FOURTH of all U.S. kids live in such households. This percentage is also up slightly in the past decade.

But stay-at-home moms will tell you it's no picnic.

More Moms Staying Home, Following Traditional Role, But No Regrets