Posted on 11/30/2004 2:28:45 PM PST by Lorianne
Many moms work outside the home because they must, in order to feed and clothe the children. Good for them.
But many also do it in order to be "happy", or "fulfilled". This is nothing other than love growing cold.
When you have a child, you no longer have a right to choose your own "happiness" over the child's needs.
You can't say categorically that *every* mother who works is "wanting everything right now." Some men really don't make enough money to support a family at a modest middle-class level. Some families really do have additional expenses that aren't "frivolous." There's an awful lot of judgement on these forums about people and situations that don't really merit it. Yes, there are people who throw money around like water, and who spoil their children. There are other people who don't. I know several families right now where the mom is working to pay college tuition, or where mom is working for the medical benefits (because dad doesn't have them through work.)
Good Comments.
Thank you very much.
Bump!
Exactly. My wife makes almost as much as I do. Cutting our income in half so she can stay home with the kids is not a viable option.
I'm not sure what form pre-K takes in other places, but at our parish school it is only 3 half-days per week. It's fairly expensive, and almost all of the families who use it, have a stay-at-home parent. The awkwardness of the schedule is too much for most families with 2 careers.
I'm not a big proponent of pre-K, having homeschooled our oldest. But our kids *love* this program, I attribute that to the woman who runs it. Also, they think they are "big" because their older sibs are at "real school" right next door.
That type of Pre K I support. It is more like a play group with structure.
My children attended Pre K for 3 1/2 days per week.
The Pre K that everyone is bashing (including me) is the full time 5 days per week Pre K notion.
Interesting. The exact opposite is true in DC. The most expensive housing is generally closer in while the cheaper housing is further out. A decent single-family home in Arlington runs in the $600,000 plus range. You get a lot more for your money if you're willing to move out to Fairfax County, but then you add at least another hour to your commute every day.
So being an American is somehow genetic? Why would you think that a kid raised by American parents in American society from a very young age cannot be an American simply because they were born in another country?
There is no gene for being an American.
Not everyone lives in a part of the country where a family of 4 can live off of $40,000 per year.
read later
You are comparing suburban townhomes to rowhomes in upper class/upper middle class white areas of DC and Arlginton - not a fair comparison. DC no longer has a working class/middle class white residential area. So think of the price of a rowhome in a middle class black neighborhood in DC, and you'll get the picture better. Elsewhere, think of northeast or south Philly, the northwest of Chicago, northern Baltimore, northside or southside of Pittsburgh, etc.
Carolyn
This has nothing to do with taxes.
The advent of the two income family coincided with the explosion of the cost of the nice house in the suburbs with the good school district as middle class whites poured out of cities in the 70's. That house costs two paychecks. Period.
You hit the nail on the head. My wife is actually due today with our first child. She's on 12 weeks maternity leave. Unfortunately, living in Boston, we have no chance of affording our house without her full-time job. Moving to the suburbs is all well and good, but the houses are just as expensive. We're going the au pair (SP?) route.
There is no gene for being an American.
If there is no gene for being an American, than there is no American nation, just a bunch of disparate ethnic groups living in a multicultural society under a common government ... hmmm .... that sounds like liberal propaganda to me.
America was founded by Europeans of common Germanic descent from the northwest corner of Europe (England, Scotland, Ireland, northern France, western Germany, Holland, Scandanavia). When people think of a typical American, they think of someone like President Bush who is Anglo-Saxon, not someone who like Gov. Blagjoegovich from Illinois, who is of Serbian descent, or ex Gov. Dukakis of Massachusetts, who is of Greek descent. The only exception to this would be the Black American nation - the descendants of the slaves, who are their own little nation unto themselves and which is why America is always seen as White or Black.
Other people living in America who fail to meld culturally and racially/genetically into the dominant Anglo-Germanic-Irish group are typically viewed as outsiders or ethnic/racial particularists who refuse assimilation - the hyphenated Americans.
In fact, it is the amalgamation of the people from the British Isles, and from the northwest of the continent that created the unique American nation racially (just as the melding of Celt, Roman, and German in Briton created the English nation, or of Celt and Norse in Ireland created the irish nation), and it is that amalgamation that makes us not be Britons or Germans or Irish anymore. Similarly, the amalgamation of different African groups in America created the unique Black American nation, which with its colony in Liberia, clearly stands apart from their African brethren.
Perhaps sometime you will go to Concord, Massachusetts, and read the inscription at the North Bridge.
Why not move? If not to New Hampshire, then a whole other region where someone else is not raising your children.
The feminists talked women into trading in one job for 1 1/2 or 2, depending on their man. It's amazing they got away with selling that bill of goods.
I love people that spit out just move. Here's where I've lived: Massachusetts, Vermont, North Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, Germany (3-years), California, and Kentucky. That's what 8 years of active duty and 3 years working at Procter and Gamble do to you. My entire extended family (we're talking over 50 people) live in Massachusetts. Is it strange of me and my wife to want to live close to family? Do you think that has a positive effect on my future son?
I own my own business with a partner. We put our heart and soles into the company ans also plenty of money. We're established in Massachusetts. My wife had a job where she worked 3 weeks in a row, then had a month or two off. It was a consulting position. Fairly good situation to have kids. Her company went under. We have a mortgage. We needed her income. Does that make us evil? We both drive cars over 6 years old, bought used.
We're going to do what we can to make things work. a Live-in is better than day care 5 days a week. My son will be around his grand parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all the time. We all help each other out. I'm sorry, but moving to South Dakota or Mississippi is not a solution for us. Get real.
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