My wife gave up her career for our children and now she's incredibly bored and unhappy.

Before I begin, I want to preface by saying these are my words. My wife is aware I am posting and approves of this.<br><br>I'm a higher income earner and my wife used to be as well. Before she went on maternity leave, she was earning around 200k. When she was on leave, Covid hit and she was forced to stay home for another year.<br><br>After a year, she went to get her old job back but they replaced her. She was upset and decided to look for other options in her field. She had no luck finding anything in her old field because she had been out for over a year.<br><br>I make enough to support us and she thought it would be a good time to be stay at home mom. She was very excited. Our children would have both parents, and she could finally focus on family.<br><br>The first three months or so, she was ecstatic. She had more time with the kids, more time for herself, and more time for us. But after that, it began to wear on her. She complained about how boring it is to take care of children all day and how she felt like she had no challenge.<br><br>I talked to her one night and she just looked at me and said, "before I got to challenge myself everyday doing something I love. Now I'm just a mom. I clean up after kids, cook, and watch them. It's so boring, but I feel guilty because I know how lucky we are."<br><br>After that, we tried hiring someone to clean. I took the kids on the weekends. I did everything I could to make her life easier, but nothing worked. She was still bored.<br><br>I told her to get a hobby but she has no interest. We talked about getting a nanny and her going back to work, but she feels like she's failed as a mother if she doesn't take care of her children.<br><br>She's being selfish but I get why. I work hard for what we have and I expect her to take care of the children because I have to work for our wealth. I know that sounds horrible, but if she were to go back to work, it would significantly improve our lives.<br><br>We can do it without her income, but it would make it a lot easier for us to afford things, to travel, to build wealth. Otherwise, we're living for the day we retire. We won't be able to travel until the kids go to college. We can't afford a second home because she doesn't make enough for a second mortgage. We're just living paycheck to paycheck with two kids.<br><br>It's like we're in some sort of limbo. We're not where we were supposed to be in life but we can't go back to where we were because she feels like she's failed if she doesn't take care of the kids.