Today, I am very privileged to “have” Dominique Goh from Singapore over here at the blog, to share with us the story of how she became a work-at-home-mom (WAHM).

Singapore will always hold a special place in my heart, as it is one of the first countries I went on mission to as a single woman, and it also became a “stopover haven” for our family whenever we would travel to and from our old mission base in Timor Leste. We have a loving, caring group of people over there — a “family,” actually — in Couples for Christ.

I chanced upon Dominique’s blog while doing some research on work-at-home moms. 🙂 I’m sure you moms out there who aspire to be WAHMs will learn a thing or two (or more!) from Dominique. 🙂

Whatever state you are in now though, whether working fulltime out of the home, or stay-at-home, or work-at-home, I invite you to celebrate the Gift of Womanhood! 🙂 You are a precious gift; and you were meant to shine! 🙂

Now, for Dominique’s story:

It has been nine years since I became a mom. Since then I have been done the whole nine yards — FTWM/ SAHM and now a WAHM. It was a conscious decision for me to stay home with the kids when they are young. I had been taking two years no-pay leave each time to care for my kids when they were born. I feel that it is important that I be a hands on mum and take charge of the kids during their formative years. 


For the elder two boys I went back to work and placed them in childcare when they were 18 months old and 2 years old respectively. It was a tough time juggling both work and family commitments. Every day was a big rush for me and it only got more stressful if one or both of the boys fell ill and I needed to take time off from work to attend to them. The boss was not that understanding and I felt that I was short-changing them by having to spend more time on the kids. 


When Tiger girl was born in 2010, I decided that was a need for a change. I would not be going back to work once my no-pay leave was up, as it would be impossible to juggle the different schedules of two school-going children and work. Hubby flies often for work and I did not have alternative childcare arrangements if anything does crop up. The boys too would be needing more attention and I would have to supervise their studies now that they are in elementary school. 


I decided that it would be in the best interest that I find a job which was flexible enough and suited for doing at home. My working hours had to be able to be fitted around the school calender. I did consider looking for a part-time job with regular working hours but it would be difficult for me to factor in the care-giving arrangements once the school holidays come by. 


Being a teacher, I could always give tuition (tutorial classes to us Filipinos) for both academic and musical instruments (piano and violin), however, it would be at the expense of time I could spend with my kids. Most of the tuition-attending kids would be only be able to come after school and on weekends and that is the time which the kids would be at home and needing my attention. That plan was scrapped. I needed something with much more flexibility and that could be done while the kids were in school or when the baby is sleeping.  


After much consideration, I decided to focus one of my greatest passions — blogging and writing. I had been doing freelance writing off and on during my time as a SAHM, when the boys were under 2 years old. This would be the best option for me as I will be able to schedule in work around the existing household/children’s schedule. 


This year I decided to go full steam ahead and switch from a (T) SAHM to a WAHM. I actively source for writing campaigns and got myself an agent to help coordinate the campaigns which I am working on. It has been great being able to take care of the family and earning supplementary income while being at home. It can be tiring juggling both at times when work deadlines loom in the background. However, looking at the content smiles on the kids’ faces and the security that I have seeing that they are being offered the best care possible makes all these sacrifices worth it. 


Dominique Goh is a Singaporean elementary school teacher,  freelance writer and mom of three who is passionate about parenting and educating kids. In her free time you can see her dabbling in photography, cooking and cake decorating, and blogging at Dominique’s Desk.










P.S. Do YOU want to share YOUR story about how you’ve found your joy at home / work or other aspects of your life? Be part of the CELEBRATION and share about how you treasure THE GIFT OF your WOMANHOOD! 🙂 Shoot me an email at if you’re interested! 🙂 Go, go, go! Let your light shine! 😉