Bring back the stay-at-home mom

TownHall.com ^ | Friday, August 8, 2003 | by Rich Lowry

[JohnHuang2]

Friday, August 8, 2003

Quote of the Day by genghis

[Evil Inc]

This would be the greatest thing to happen to this nation, ever, period.
All they have to do is end the obscenity of affirmative action. If forced to compete on a level field they would rapidly leave the work force. Maybe black males would become employed then, replacing the office eye candy and quota fillers.

[Ed_in_NJ]

The bureaucrats want BOTH parents working and paying taxes, so they (govt.) have more $$$ to play with. This also keeps the parents occupied so they're less likely to question what is being done with that money.

Like most govt. programs, "No Child" uses our money to provide what the individual could/should provide, and the govt. version is inferior and more expensive.

[coincheck]

excellent article, and so true. i think the toughest and most rewarding job is to be a stay at home mom. i'm glad my mom could. and i've seen how a mom working full time affects the home(dad and kids)and when my wife cut her work hours in half to spend time at home, it was benefical to all of us. we had a lot less stress and the kids felt more secure with mom at home. coincheck

[Knightsofswing]

My wife is a day care TEACHER, & she works darned hard at her job, teaching her kids. There are a lot of parents who do just dump their kids there, but what do you expect with every body trying to "keep up with the joneses".
As for me I am a stay at home DAD. I was hurt while on active duty in the Marine Corps. This is the most challenging job that I have every had. We have a very gifted daughter, and a son with Down Symdrone [a high functing child too], and let me tell you I have my hands full most of the time. And I would not change a thing.

[MaryFromMichigan]

I have always had a little trouble with the term "working mom".
As a stay at home Mom of four, I always was and still am "working".
We need to use the phrase "working outside the home" as opposed to "working in the home".
I think the phrase "working Mom" is used in some circles to denigrate the real work of stay at home Moms.
Think how offended some one would be if I said to them, "Oh, your a nurse! How nice you don't have to work!"

/rant :)

[independentmind]

I'm not a big fan of NR, but I give Lowry a lot of credit for tackling this subject.

[independentmind]

I have several friends who have made the decicision to leave work after a few years of the daycare drill. I can honestly say without exception that I have seen a remarkable change in the behavior and attitudes of their children after they became stay-at-home moms.

[MaryFromMichigan]

Good morning, Knightsofswing!

Feel free to exchange "Dad" for "Mom" in my little rant! ;)

[Tax-chick]

If forced to compete on a level field they would rapidly leave the work force. Maybe black males would become employed then

Secretaries, retail store clerks, bank tellers, customer service reps of all kinds ... where are the squads of black men lining up to fill these jobs? "Thanks" to the racist public school system, many don't have the academic skills for even entry-level office work.

I agree with the premise of the article, but I don't think most women got their jobs through gender preferences. Where I worked (a large insurance company) we rarely had men apply for the kinds of paper-shuffling, phone answering jobs most women were doing.

[Mr. Bird]

According to Robertson, about half of married couples with children in the mid-1950s paid no federal income tax, thanks to a generous $3,000 personal exemption. If this exemption had kept up with inflation, it would be $10,000 today.

Wow. This is the first time I've read a valid, concrete detail that (at least partially) explains this massive shift in the culture.

[WestPacSailor]

I strongly believe that the vast majority of our societal problems come from letting other people raise our children. A major cause for this problem is the unexplainable need to "keep up with the Jones". It's too bad that so many Americans feel the need for the big house, the big SUV (or two), and all the other crap we keep accumulating.

I like to think that people were happier when we had fewer material possesions and spent more time with our families.

I work, my wife stays home with our children. Seemed to work well for thousands of years. Does my wife work? HELL YEAH she does. I tried her job for a few weeks, it's a LOT of work. I think that, in the long run, our children will be better off because of her though. No, I don't own an SUV (just the ubercool minivan..NOT!!) and a used truck. But when I go home at night I know where my kids are and what they've been expose to all day.

Perhaps it's time we quit thinking of ourselves and really did "what's best for the children".

[BMiles2112]

No group in our society is so selfless or does so much for "the children" as stay-at-home moms. But we value some contributions to children's well-being more than others.

This needs to be repeated. The reasoning I hear most from parents for mothers going to work to let a teenager being paid minimum wage raise their children is that its "for the children". The idea is that they want their children to have things that they never did; expensive crap, free college, etc. These things are nothing compared to what a child receives from a mother who actually raises her children.

[xzins]

For those with clear financial needs, staggered work schedules are the only real way to make it work, but then the couple has no time together.

Staggered work schedules with one partner only part-time is the best solution.

Once the children are in school, a teaching career works well....off when the kids are home. Nursing's high demand puts nurses (rn's) in control of their hours with a high pay rate. This, too, seems a decent choice because the high rate makes fewer hours at staggered times very possible.

[Artist]

Mommy ping.

[fml]

-- No group in our society is so selfless or does so much for "the children" as stay-at-home moms.---


Awwww, your making me blush!!

[lsucat]

Thanks for the ping :)

Our youngest took her first steps a few weeks ago. It was the middle of the day on a Thursday, and I was there to see it. I miss having the money to shop, sure, but being able to see those steps (and everything else my kids do) makes it worth it and then some.

[MortMan]

When I'm asked if my stay-at-home, homeschooling wife "works", my stock answer is to say "She works harder than I do. She just doesn't get a paycheck for it."

[Evil Inc]

I was speaking really about affirm action being an incentive program that has made work more attractive than it is for the unprotected. Many women are well aware of the hammer they wield when applying for promotions and use it. This all just makes it more attractive than staying home.

[Consort]

That was the reality before the price of everything went up. Lower the price of everything so that we can afford that again. Lower the price of everything just for the heck of it.