Posted on 08/05/2008 7:17:25 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
(LifeWire) -- "What do you do all day?" is a question Anne Marie Davis, 34, says she gets a lot.
Davis, who lives in Louisville, Texas, isn't a mother, nor does she telecommute. She is a stay-at-home wife, which makes her something of a pioneer in the post-feminist world.
Ten years ago, she was an "overwhelmed" high school English teacher. "I didn't have time for my husband, " she says, "and I didn't have a life."
She presented the idea of staying home to her husband, a Web engineer. "I told him it was something I wanted to do, and he supported it. It was a great relief."
Dr. Scott Haltzman, author of "The Secrets of Happily Married Women," says stay-at-home wives constitute a growing niche. "In the past few years, many women who are well educated and trained for career tracks have decided instead to stay at home," he says. While his research is ongoing, he estimates that more than 10 percent of the 650 women he's interviewed who choose to stay home are childless.
Daniel Buccino, a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine clinical social worker and psychotherapist, says stay-at-home wives are the latest "status symbols."
"It says, 'We make enough money that we both don't need to work outside the home,'" he says. "And especially with the recent economic pressures, a stay-at-home spouse is often an extreme and visible luxury."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Excuse me?
Proverbs 31:10
This type of woman makes her family (and society) prosperous. They are NOT freeloaders, and they help a man BE a man.
At this point in my personal education, I cannot see any value in having children and letting others raise them and instill THEIR values instead of the parents’ (our) values in them.
My wife and I did the same thing for years when the children were young.
We couldn't afford, at that time, for one of us to not be working.
I worked days and my wife worked evenings. That way we didn't need child care.
We did chores, errands, house cleaning, yard work, etc on the weekends.
It got to the point that we were both exhausted and grumpy much of the time.
Since that time I have a different job paying enough for us to live on with only one person working outside the home. Our children are grown and out of the house.
My wife now takes care of the home. She still works, just not outside the home.
“It used to be that men took pride in being able to support a wife, but of course that has changed as the result of poor behavior on the part of both some husbands and some wives.”
Yes at one time, men were men and women were women.
Now you have males staying home and freeloading off the female. Males pretending to be “mommies” that are “straight”. Females fighting our wars while the male stays home. It’s a mess and on and on it goes.
My mom stayed with us until we were in school, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. These are your children, they are the most important responsibility you will ever be tasked with in your life. Please make some time for at least the first 5 formative years of their life (after which they go to school of course).
IMHO neither a daycare nor a nanny is to be trusted with children, especially before they can talk. It’s a bit of a struggle with us, I make a pretty decent living but my wife stays at home with our two children. It can be a challenge at times, and we don’t get to go out very often or go on trips — but it’s totally worth it when I see that my children are being taken care of by someone who loves them dearly, and stimulates them, spends time teaching them, etc...
Money comes and goes, but your children are something else entirely. Just a thought :)
Yeah...IF...
“A stay-at-home mom is an important and heroic figure who should be esteemed by all.”
Nothing less than the foundation of civilisation.
My Husband and I are at a position in life to own a big house with no kids living at home anymore. But I am on dust patrol and kitchen duty every day.
My Husband loves it.
“I guess it depends on the familys situation. If the wifes income, after taxes, is so marginal (when factoring in communting costs, hiring a maid service to clean the house, work clothes etc.) then it makes sense for her to stay home and take care of the house.”
For families where the joint income exceeds $250K, Obama’s planned tax increases (reversing Bush’s cuts, lifting the cap on payroll taxes) are going to encourage some working women to stay home. Liberals say they favor women working, but some of their policies encourage the opposite.
Obama has mentioned augmenting race-based affirmative action with class-based affirmative action. (I’d rephrase this as “disciminate against well-off whites and Asians even more”.) If “class” is defined based on family income, a working woman will be hurting her children’s chances of college admission under such a regime, effectively raising the marginal tax rate on her earnings even higher.
stay-at-home spouse is often an extreme and visible luxury...
Raise taxes !
I also want to add that my Darlin’ Husband is the most cared for, spoiled and doted over Husband that has ever existed.
When he comes home from work, he has a spotless house, a cold cocktail and kiss from a wife who missed him so very much for the 8 hours he was away.
His only job in the evening is to climb up the stairs, change out of his uniform and find where he left his remote.
I do this because I love him more than life itself. It is VERY gratifying for me. And he never lets me go a day without telling me how much he appreciates it. (I’m getting misty)
“Raise taxes” -
exactly. You’d be hard pressed to find a leftist policy that isn’t destructive to a traditional family.
There are days she's busier than when she worked but I've noticed how much happier we both are (I'm horrible when it comes to domestic duties).
I don't know if I'd consider this a soft spot for her, nor do I worry about cutting up my check in what is a lifelong partnership. In addition to cleaning, there's laundry, pool maintenance, and cooking to name only a few of the matters she handles.
If I were to break it all down, I'm sure the numbers would show she'd be getting more of a cut of my white-collar paycheck. I know she deserves it.
KK
As an ex-Marine officer’s wife, I know what you mean. It was the “responsiblitites” of an officer’s wife I didn’t particularly like. I wanted to work at a time when it was frowned upon. When the first kid was born he resigned his commission, and I was still able to stay at home and raised the children. Now we are retired and love it!
Thank you. And I couldn’t agree more about having others raise your children.
Do I plan on sitting around, eating "Bon Bons" all day? Nope. I'll take some college classes, keep a greenhouse, can food and take care of my husband "in the manner to which he's become accustomed." heh, heh!
With the kids grown I may actually have the time and energy to keep the house perfect!
That was before hiring quota's, when performance counted for something. Now, what hair color/sex/race/etc comes before actually being able to do the job. (affirmative action)
Local city bus service now hires more women drivers then men. It matters not that they miss more days and complain more and believe it or not, fight more than the old days when a bus driver was usually a man. Men are no longer needed or wanted in this society.
bttt
It’s SO good to hear a man acknowledge that work done in the home is work. It IS work and often it is not particularly interesting or gratifying. But it is necessary.
I have considered hiring someone to clean our house as I now work two jobs and my husband, a college professor, works enough hours to be working two jobs. But I just don’t want someone else with access to our home. I want family privacy. I’m only working two jobs now so that I can later teach more hours and have one day off so that I can properly keep house better and have more time for ministry.
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