My mother was a SAHM by social convention, but it's not what she wanted for her life. She was miserable and it effected our lives deeply. She went back to work full-time (making more than my father even after >10 years out of the labor force). My younger siblings went to a well-run up-scale daycare with professionals who were passionate about child development and had none of the self-loathing/depression of a reluctant SAHM.

Suffice it to say: I need therapy and my siblings don't.

I think the social value of the SAHM is vastly over-estimated. It's basically a "good old days" lemonade and football fallacy.