March 10, 2004 -- When Kristen Coffield's 15-year-old son came home from hanging out with a friend and woke her up just to talk about his evening, she knew that it was a big deal.

"The thing about teens is that you have to catch them when they are ready to talk, when they want to be intimate," Coffield said. "One day, I realized that I wasn't listening to what he was trying to tell me," she said.

Coffield is part of a trend spotlighted in the latest issue of Ladies Home Journal. She is a stay-at-home mom who decided to leave the work force when her children entered their teen years, rather than when they were first born.

According to Department of Labor statistics from 2002, mothers stay at home while fathers go to work in 23.2 percent of American families. Only about a quarter of those mothers who stay at home while the father works have children between the ages of 14 and 17.

Yet there is a growing amount of research that children may need their parents more than ever in their teen years, the very time that parental involvement tends to fall off. A 2001 YMCA phone survey of 14- to 17-year-olds found that the average teen is left unsupervised after school two days a week. For more than 32 percent of teens, they were home alone three or more days weekly.

According to a study of more than 4,200 middle-school students published in the journal Health, Education and Behavior in 2001, teens who felt that their parents liked, respected and took them seriously were less likely than their peers to smoke and drink.

Finding Time to Listen

Coffield, a former Washington, D.C.-area caterer who specialized in congressional fund-raisers, has now been at home for four years. She had been running her own catering business, thinking that it would give her more time for her family, but instead she found herself busier than ever, sometimes juggling four or five major events a week. "I tried to be available for carpooling and events at school, but it was very, very tough," she said. "Sometimes I was just out of commission. We had a series of baby sitters coming in, who had to be briefed on what was going on. You're really piece-mealing it."

She decided to stay home when her son Will, then 11, was telling her something and she realized that she was not listening, but was instead thinking about what she needed to do next.

Nothing could be worse than a mother who did not listen, Coffield decided.

Glad to See Mom

Losing her salary and the extra perks that came with her job wasn't easy, Coffield said. Within two months, her husband started a second business to make up for the lost income.

Her children say they are glad to see her when they get home from school. Her teenage daughter says she likes to talk to her mother, and feels closer to her now that she is home.

"Before she was home, we always had babysitters," said Jessie, 13. "I like having her home now." Plus, her mother always has snacks ready for her and is available to drive to after-school activities.

Her other daughter, 8-year-old Virginia, does not remember a time when her mother was not at home.

"I love it, because it's the happiest day when I come home and see Mom," Virginia said. &nsbp;