Ah, the comforts of home. The coffee is brewing, and the lasagna is cooking in the slow cooker. Your little one, a six-month-old baby girl named Abigail, lies on a blanket on the floor. She looks up at you, wide-eyed, smiling, and cooing with wonder.

You have no boss to hassle you every day, no deadlines, and someone who considers you her whole world. You have plenty of time to enjoy the television shows that you have been wanting to see, read the books that are collecting dust in the bedroom, and clean the house. You should be happy, but you are not. You feel down. All of your friends and even your children have jobs. They are always telling you about their co-workers, what their co-workers are doing, and various projects that are coming up at work. As you listen, it dawns on you that a job might be the fix for your current mood. You call your mother to see if she would mind watching Abigail while you are at work, fix yourself a cup of coffee, and then log on to one of the job search sites to begin looking for a job. Why would mothers of young children want to get a job? Answer: loneliness.

Staying home every day while friends and family go to work can make mothers feel very alone. They also feel out of the loop. Their friends work five days a week and spend their weekends doing things that they do not have time to do during the week, like yard work and cleaning the house. With so little time together, you are beginning to feel disconnected from them--as if you live in different worlds.

Since mothers may feel lonely as a result of spending so much time at home, they may try to cope with their loneliness by engaging in unhealthy habits, such as binge eating or smoking. Binge eating will cause the mother to gain weight, which may later result in diabetes. Smoking will be harmful to both her and her child.

When a mother gets a job, on the other hand, she will feel better about herself and her life. She will want to take care of herself so that she can be an asset to her employer, rather than a burden. She will be more likely to avoid unhealthy habits and instead adopt a healthy lifestyle. She will watch her weight, avoid smoking, and try to get enough sleep. At last, she will finally be happy.