This is based on old info as my kids are 16 and 18. My ex-husband pushed hard for me to be a SAHM. And it wasn't that I didn't want to, it was my dad's voice in my head, "make sure you can earn a satisfactory living if you end up divorced." If I dropped out of nursing for 5 yrs, who would hire me when I was ready to go back? Financially, we could've done it, our costs were low and the ex was a very hard worker, getting OT all the time. But some not so great stuff had happened with him that I could not pull that trigger and totally quit. Both of us are in the medical field and have lots of options for shifts. So I went half-time, he did 3 12 hr shifts and covered the kids when I was at work.
2 yrs later, I was right about him, very right. And as I prepared for leaving, I was so fortunate to be able to go right back to full time. My lawyer said he has to give you alimony, you can wait. Nope, I would not take alimony (probably a dumb idea to leave money on the table but I did) and off to work I went.
This is probably the wrong thing to say, especially on this forum where the goal is to stop working when you've become FI. But SAHMs that do it through many years, like even through HS, I always worry. What happens to them in a divorce? How do they find work in their field if they've been out of it so long? Alimony does not go on as long as it used to. There would've been benefits to me staying home, but the way we did it, they were always with one of us, not daycare. I'm probably speaking out of turn and I do not mean this as a dig at any stay at home parents. It just made me, personally, worried.