It's a debate that has caused a divide within the parenting community for a long time now - Do stay-at-home parents work harder than those with full-time jobs?
Depending on who you ask, you'll get a different answer each time.
Those who identify as stay-at-home moms and dads will tell you that taking care of children around the clock without pay is a much more difficult task than working for eight hours a day.
On the other hand, parents who have jobs will say that they have a harder time because balancing work life with raising children is not easy.
It's a very subjective topic that can never seem to have true consensus, but the results of a recent survey by Aveeno Baby may help us better understand what many people think.
"Becoming a parent is an amazing experience, but we understand that entering this new chapter of life can also bring with it a great deal of stress and worry, so we wanted to discover more about what new parents experience in the first few years, what they wish they had known and how best we can support them," Aveeno Baby Skin expert Rebecca Bennett told The Sun.
According to the survey, which polled 1,500 mothers and fathers in the U.K., being a stay-at-home parent could actually be harder than working a full-time job.
31 percent of the respondents agreed that staying at home with kids is harder, while 55 percent of the parents said that having a baby is hard work even with a strong support system. Only 25% of those surveyed thought caring for a baby was not difficult.
The survey also revealed that 45 percent of mothers believe they wouldn't be able to successfully care for an infant without their own mother's advice.
However, when it comes to tips and constructive criticism from strangers on the internet, parents are more reluctant to accept.
About 71 percent of the moms and dads think social media makes parenting competitive, and 22 percent feel it pressures them to be a perfect parent.
While this survey opens our eyes to how people feel about staying at home vs working, it still doesn't provide a definitive answer to the question.
A previous study by the Harvard Business School found that when it comes to overall life satisfaction, children with working mothers turn out to be just as happy as those with stay-at-home moms.
At the end of the day, a child needs love, stability, and security to become a successful adult, and these aren't necessarily dependent on whether or not they have a stay-at-home parent or one who works.
There are immense challenges that come with both styles of parenting, but how your child turns out is really up to how you raise them, regardless of your job status.
