Home Alone - is staying home with your kids worth it?

On this snow-soaked morning, I'm pondering a question many of us have faced in our lives. Is staying home with our kids worth it?

Letters to my Daughters blogger, Shawn L. from PA, thinks so. Granted, she has 20-month-old twins. She tried the working mother route and felt miserable.

Her colleague, Kelby, at TypeAMom, would go nuts if she were home all day. I suppose it depends on what you do when you're home.

As I folded a blanket on the couch and watched the snow fall gracefully from the sky, I was grateful I have work waiting for me in my home office when I wake up in the morning. How would I fill my time while my kids are at school? Go grocery shopping? I can do that and work. Like many Type A moms I know, just doing domestic chores would leave me unfulfilled and irritable.

But do I need to go elsewhere to have gratifying work? News 14 in North Carolina recently reported on moms finding work as virtual assistants. While it seems to place women at a career disadvantage by making them 'cybertaries', a classic female role, I'd like to think it is a positive trend for women who want the income without the stress.

Having tried all types of work arrangements, from part-time, to flex-time to work at home, I have found the most gratifying solution is to work from home while still being there for my daughter when she comes home from school in tears about the third-grade bully or my first-grade son when he's struggling with math. It isn't always a perfect arrangement, especially on those days when I feel guilty for ignoring their requests for attention because of a hot media lead I'm pursuing for a client or the next conference call looming on my calendar. Nonetheless, it has taught them boundaries. And yes, I am the boss! Is staying at home worth it for parents? What do you think?