Scared of big change or check my math please

[MidWestLove]

I find it hard to maintain morale to stay in the career race and seriously looking at scaling back to either part time or departure all together as I have 2 girls (3.5 and 3 months) who I would much rather be with. plus our childcare asks for 35% raise (15 an hour) due to two kids now prompting my thoughts of  doing the transition.  Is my math right that I have nothing to worry about?

Me/DW - 37/38. DW works , makes 30k for part time work of which we save 18 in her 403b. loves the mission, likes the work, would like to continue part time 3 days a week.
No debts, paid of house and car. 1.7 million in assets earmarked for retirement between roth (300k, 700 taxable , and 700k in pretax 401/403b/IRAs).  money set aside for kids education. background messages from our parents that they want to fund grandchildrens school as they put money into 529. likely an inheritance in  low seven digits (which we hope not to get as long as possible as we do not need it and would much rather have them). financially I think we are all set, emotionally less so.
budget is 37k annually without childcare (which we would need very little of if I stay home in addition to DW working part time) of which 23k is 'essential' (taxes, utilities, food including eating out).

1.7 million times 3.5 percent (safer than safe) is 56k annually so why am I so scared of the change?
yes, I can work another 10 years, save another million dollars but does it worth it... 
   

[lbmustache]

I think your numbers sound right. Scale back to part-time for a bit if you're really worried: gives you a chance to assess if you can work on the reduced income and saves on daycare. If it works, great! Time for FIRE :) If not, go back to full-time and reassess. But your #s look good to me.

[Rezdent]

Your math looks like it works.
A small risk factor would be wife losing job, but your retirement funds should be able to handle that.
This is the time of life when kids are most needing family.  Later, they start forming friends and hobbies and sports, so they rely less on parents.

You seem to be framing this question as either:
    work 10 years or
    never work again
But what if you decided to stay home a few years, just until the kids are school age?

You can then sit down in a few years and think through all this again, and maybe you find you want to work fulltime, or parttime, or not at all.

[forummm]

If I were you I would quit if I didn't like my job. Keep living on the $37k for awhile if that makes you feel more secure. Worst case is you can always go back to work if you miss it for some reason.

[Villanelle]

In your shoes, I would quit, but probably look for part time work, a side hustle, or something along those lines.  I'm 40, and I'm not ready to be retired.  (I'm not working now for other reasons.)  Is there any way that what you do now can be turned into consulting?  Do you have a hobby from which you can make money?  Is there anything you think you might enjoy trying and that could make a few bucks but give you some flexibility (like substitute teaching on the days your wife is home, for example)?  Quit and do something like that, and if you fill the new spare time and are comfortable with the money, you can scale back of even quit.  Give yourself an ramp, instead of forcing yourself to step of the cliff if that giant step makes you uncomfortable. 

[ltt]

There will be plenty to do when you are home with children.  The work doesn't really end, plenty to do inside the home as well as home maintenance, yard maintenance--the list is never-ending.  And, once your children start school, it will be even busier for the next decade, as they will start extra-curricular activities and most of your weeknight activities will be taken up driving/taking them somewhere. :)