My husband paid me $15 an hour to be a stay-at-home mom. Here's what I learned.

Courtesy of Melissa Petro / Instagram

• Melissa Petro is a freelance writer, wife, and mother living in New York City.
• Instead of returning to full-time work after she had a baby, she persuaded her husband to pay her to handle all the childcare, housework, and other familial responsibilities.
• She added up the hours she'd work each week and multiplied that by an hourly wage, subtracting this figure from what she owed the family budget.
• Still needing a second job to make ends meet, Petro soon grew exhausted by all the responsibilities on her plate, especially as her son got older.
• Later, her husband lost his job, compelling the couple to switch roles entirely.
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Before I became a mother, my husband and I had an equal partnership: We both worked full time — he as a consultant in digital media, me as a freelance writer — and contributed 50-50 to a family budget. We also did our best to split the household work equally.

Then I got pregnant and gave birth, and equality went out the window.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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