Sure they can. They'll just demand that you and I pay for it, and bemoan the crazy notion that my money belongs to me - not their baby's pediatrician.
Most people wait until they've been billed to bitch about the amount.
I would say that is merely an opinion.
As a mom, I'd have to agree with you on this one. I'll NEVER understand a mother who goes back to work soon after having a child. I can't help but wonder why they even bothered to have one in the first place. I would AT LEAST stay home the first three years, but the longer you wait, the better, in my opinion. The children I know who are in preschool DO tend to act out and get sick a lot. Not to mention that it's horrifying to me to put a complete stranger in charge of a child at such a tender age. It's much too important of a job to trust it to someone you don't even know.
Perhaps. But the societies were only those people have children who are able to afford it, will die out.
You're welcome to your opinion, of course. Mine is that that is a bunch of B.S. We have two very happy, healthy, well-adjusted children (aged 21 and 17) who have done very well. If every family with 2 jobs waited till they "could afford" it, all that would be left is kids on welfare. I don't feel a bit uncomfortable reading the piece because at no place is the source of this identified as any kind of expert other than the self-named variety.
I worked between 20 and 40 hours a week from the time each of our kids was 8 weeks old. Dad was Army (now retired) so he worked full-time and then some, being gone to Korea for 2 years total without us and a 4-month stint in Kuwait. Both our kids enjoyed going to daycare and enjoyed coming home. I remember them in middle school, listening to Dr. Laura on our way home from school, and they would get ticked when Dr. Laura would insist that women stay home.
You want to hold yourself up as holier than thou for staying home with your kids, that's your perogative, just don't expect everybody to agree with you or follow your advice unless you have some pretty darned exemplary children.
I agree wholeheartedly with your comments. IMO, infants and small children should never be left in daycare facilities to be raised by strangers. Don't have children if you can't raise them yourself for at least the first five to seven years of their lives.
I am bemused by the folks who insist that there is nothing wrong with outsourcing the raising of children.
Of course, it's usually just a rationalization of one's own selfish behavior. After all, "If I want it, it's good".
I am even more amused by the complaints I hear from parents about the problems they have with child care. They themselves can't be bothered with the children, but they expect paid mercenaries to actually give a darn about them!