To me, everything is about timing

I accepted a job promotion/new challenge when my 1st child was 3 years old (and easier to take care). A year later I got used to the new job, and I became pregnant with my 2nd child. Then it was busy 5 years taking care of both kids - daycare, school volunteer, extracurricular activity (piano, sports, math, Chinese, chess, arts - you name it). During those years, I never thought about moving forward for my career and I did give up several opportunities. Now my 2nd child is 5 and will start kindergarten in fall, I just moved to a new company (with promotion, of course). I expect myself to get my arms around my new job in the next few months, and in the long run, I don't think time with my kids will be cut down. As a matter of fact, I now need to run my 2nd one for his activity as well. I do work-outs, too, every day. My hu*****and helps running the kids, of course. I have career aspiration, too. I just don't want to regret in the future for not taking better opportunities. I guess every mom is different. So it really depends on what YOU think is best for you family/yourself/your kids and what YOU want to pick.