Posted on 03/15/2006 8:46:15 AM PST by Hannah Senesh
You have to weigh if you want kids. If so then get used to buying no car newer than 3 years old (depreciation is a killer during the first three years) and driving it for at least 10 years. You don't have to eat out every week. You don't need the latest and greatest of toys (stereos, big screen TV etc). You don't need more house than you can live in.
All these 'things' are but dust. Only children live on after you. (And I've never gotten a hug from my car yet)
Depends on the school. Some schools are simply too expensive for kids to pay for. Other schools are simply too competitive for students to spend time working, even part-time.
If your kid gets into an academically-elite school, he or she is going to have to have a highly developed work ethic to simply graduate with good grades.
DISCUSSION ABOUT:
"Mommy, Daddy, please come home (What children really want)"
This is a wonderful piece!
To be included in or removed from the MORAL ABSOLUTES PINGLIST, please FreepMail wagglebee.
I'm a SAHM of 3 homeschoolers. It's been hard for me to juggle everything in our house. I found this cookbook and it has done wonders for our family! For anyone interested, check out this site!
http://www.savingdinner.com/
It takes the guesswork out of "what's for dinner?" but allows for family favorites, too.
We've made lots of sacrifices so that I could be home with the kids. We only have one car and live in a small house. We don't have any credit cards and some people may think our kids don't have enough opportunities. They do have a wonderful, loving home life! I wouldn't change it for the world.
Congradulations! They have what is important. You are doing an excellent job it sounds to me. I want our daughter to homeschool. Sure hope she does as I can see the many benefits. Actually, it is a way of life and quite similar to life in years past.
I hope you can convince her! Sometimes I feel like I'm not doing enough and other times I think I'll scream if we don't take a LONG break. I've found that we work well 3 months on/1 month off. The kids enjoy the "free" time and it keeps school from getting stale. Start sending her books and articles! Once you read them it's hard to avoid! :o)
Of course you are.
#39, well said.
I work for a company that has it's headquarters in Japan. So, many meetings take place at night. I know it's crazy, we could use more people that's for sure.
Thanks for the ping! This is a WONDERFUL article, and one that should be read by every parent! Bookmarked! :D
I even think this article is one the homeschooling crowd would enjoy reading.
Thank you. I'm a stay at home mom, and sometimes the house looks like a couple of hobos squat in it. Raising my daughter is a full time job in itself, and for me, the conversations I have with her are a lot more intriguing than any of the mindless exchanges I had when I worked in "suit land". She's going to be three on Tuesday, so she's just starting to really make sense when she's talking. The other day she said she "had ghosts in her diaper". I'm still trying to figure that one out, but it was cool when she said it!
I've hooked up with a mom's group that's quite active: trips to the zoo, park days, the science museum. I also train thrice weekly as a triathlete. Curiously, I have more interaction with people now as a mom than I had as a single woman. When the midget is napping, or I've managed to subdue her with a puzzle or pen and paper, I'm focusing on my writing career. Curiouser still, my fiction has taken on a lot more depth and complexity now that I've got this ultra cool job.
Even when I was employed in my field (as a copy editor and writer for financial institutions) I felt my brain was atrophying. There are so many times you can hear, "Working hard or hardly working..." before wanting to brain someone with a paper shredder. The film Office Space is scary in the way it reflected my "career" track.
I never want to go back to cubicle land, but if you can believe it--sometimes I feel guilty for not having a 9 to 5 job, such is the feminist brainwashing. If it works for some women, fine, but I'm having too much fun.
...After my husband finished college, we married....he went straight to boot camp (Navy) and when he left for his assignment, I eventually joined him.
Our first child arrived during these Navy years...
..After his time in the Navy, he went back to grad school....we lived on campus....dirt poor...beyond dirt poor, and with a small child.
During this time, women's lib was rearing it's ugly head...
..and coming on campus to organize ....
..they especially targeted (I believe) young wives (& there were quite a lot)...many with children already...
..and tried very hard to disillusion us in our daily activities of homemaker/mom/wife.
I speak the truth....I attended their meeting and the focus was....
.. working outside the home....
....taking back our maiden name...
...and empowering ourselves.
...This is where/when it all started, IMO!
I almost weakened due to their rhetoric about being less than fulfilled if I stay at home.
But I chose to be sensible, sane and the happy homemaker by doing just that!
It took years to get the material things we wanted....
..but our children always had mom home....hot meals & the whole family together.....listening/caring/calming/being....and dad consistenly & steadily in their lives too.
Priceless!
Who told you that because my parents never did and I surely didn't give a damn what anyone else said.
Ping!
Thanks for the ping.
So why the hell are the Republicans enlarging Big Stupid Government and stealing/squandering even more of our money/time than ever before?
Bless you!
We don't believe in living in debt. We also don't believe that the neighborhood we live in is a place to raise kids. It's safe, there's nothing wrong with the neighborhood per se, but we feel that a kid needs some land to run on. And we're looking for that now, but it needs to be the right place for us. Which means fitting in our budget (difficult right now in Central Florida), being close enough to work that we're not driving half the day to get there, etc.
I will say that we do eat out frequently, but that's out of convenience since we both work. If I were to stay at home with kids, part of that job would be preparing meals.
And, like I said, we could squeek by on his income, in our current home, but we don't feel that's any way to bring up a family, in that we wouldn't be able to save for any unforseen hard times and the things mentioned previously.
We've also only been married 3 years and we're trying to enjoy that first. I'm not going to stress about having or not having kids. I believe when God wants us to have them, it will be, and we'll be happy with the blessing.
Louisiana has a program where the state will pay for part or all of your college tuition if you remain in-state and your high school grades are good enough.
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