[GrootheWanderer]

I was talking to a young co-worker once, and she told me that after paying for childcare and taxes, she was basically clearing only about $2,000 a year.

It made absolutely no sense to me. If she quit work, she’d be able to spend all here time with her child and still probably be live off just her husband’s income. But when I asked it she’d ever considered that she looked at me like I was a fossil.

But she’s just had it drummed into her head for the entire 26 or so years of her existence that a woman has to have a career.

[Myrddin]

I had my wife stop working outside the home. We had 3 sons and the sum of day care, commuting and lunches at work consumed everything she earned. It was better just to say home with the kids. All that occurred well before federal income taxes included deductions for day care.

Whey my youngest was in junior high, my wife resumed worked at a dispatcher for the San Diego Sheriff's Office. That translated to police/fire/EMS dispatcher when we moved to Idaho. My oldest passed at age 32. Middle son lives in Pocatello working as a real estate broker. Youngest is in Oklahoma running a collections business.