I took a 20% pay cut for 8 months so I could spend an entire summer with my kids. It was worth it.

The author took a 20% pay cut for more time off with her kids.

Courtesy of Natalia Costa As my maternity leave after having my fourth child was ending, summer was starting.

I wanted to spend the summer with my kids, and I looked for a solution.

I ended up taking a 20% pay cut for 8 months for another 73 days off.

Our fourth child was a happy surprise, and arrived on the scene when we were busy putting out metaphorical fires with our 4-year-old twins and our 2-year-old daughter, who seemed to spend most of their time playing and fighting.

We felt like we already had a lot of kids.

Not too many, but enough.

When I learned I was pregnant, we asked ourselves, what was one more? As my maternity leave was ending, I still wanted more time Nine months later, the real party began.

My maternity leave started coming to an end just as we were facing a very long summer: 12 weeks, from June 20 to September 8, with no school.

We live in Spain, and were about to face one of those eternal Spanish summers I remember so well from my own childhood: long, hot days full of sand, sea, salt, swimming pools, and, yes, boredom.

Our monthly expenses were already higher than ever (diapers, onesies, baby food, and all those brand-new baby things I'd previously gotten rid of because I thought we were done having kids).

Still, I decided to take a 20% pay cut in exchange for more time, simply so I could get us through the summer.

That decision meant more time with the baby, obviously, but also with the rest of my kids, who are still just older than babies themselves.

The difference is that 40 years ago, in many families, one salary — usually the man's — could support a household .