My mother went back to school when I was 6 weeks old, but she had the extended family of my grandmother and her sisters to look after me. I guess I had the best of both worlds. My mother worked to support us and give me a decent standard of living, and my grandmother gave me all the care and attention of a stay at home mum. It was a win-win in many ways. If anything, the one who lost out was my mother, who worked out of necessity rather than choice, and missed a lot of my childhood.

I stayed at home with mine till she was 4 and was going to school. Then i went back to university, re-trained for my current career, and haven't really looked back. As I say, whatever works for you.