1 working parent, 1 stay-at-home parent

Kelly Antilles · Post by **Kelly Antilles** » 2003-02-08 10:58pm

jaeger115 wrote:Honestly, Kelly Antilles, if the woman could make more money than the man, then I'd support her being the breadwinner.

So, are you saying that it's impossible for a woman to make more money than a man?

Sonnenburg · Post by **Sonnenburg** » 2003-02-08 11:07pm

My wife always griped about being the one at home when I was teaching. Then when I quit teaching and said to find a job.......... guess who wound up going back to work?

Sometimes it's not sexism or convention, it's just one of the two parents saying "fuck it, we're not living in a cardboard box."

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-02-08 11:10pm

Grrr .... this whole fucking thread is permeated with the popular belief that staying at home and raising your children yourself is:

A) easy.
B) not worthy of respect.

That is fucking bullshit and I'm sick of it. My wife has a very difficult, demanding job. The fact that she doesn't get paid for it is a goddamned social injustice, not an indictment of the value of her contribution to society.

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2003-02-08 11:20pm

Well I don't know about getting paid for it considering that you decided to have the kid but I know that is not the point you are trying to make and will end that trolling. Yes, staying at home to raise the kids is a demanding job and someone who decided to do that should be respected.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2003-02-09 02:28am

Durran Korr wrote:
jaeger115 wrote:There seems to be a cultural consensus that women are better with little kids, yet we all know that both sexes are equally good at it. Men are better at disciplining.
Yeah, men tend to be much better at disciplining, which is why single motherhood tends to crank out more troubled kids. Men can flat-out say "no, you will not get married to a bassist/do drugs/listen to Slipknot. Why? Because I said do."

In my house it is just myself, my sister and my mum, she's raised us just fine, neither myself or my sis have any problems at all.

jaeger115 · Post by **jaeger115** » 2003-02-09 02:32am

So, are you saying that it's impossible for a woman to make more money than a man?

NO! I meant if the woman of a particular couple does make more money than the man, then she should be the breadwinner! What part of this don't you understand?

Captain tycho · Post by **Captain tycho** » 2003-02-09 02:33am

My dad was the stay at home parent while my Mom worked as a nurse at a nursing home. It was mostly because I was very very sick during my pre-teen and early teen years, so he had to stay home.
I don't think it really matters if the mother or father stays home.
Makes no difference to me.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-02-09 03:23am

If both parents need to work out of financial necessity, then that's just the way it has to be. But if one parent can support the whole family on his or her income, then it's pure selfishness for the other to continue working just for the sake of his or her career. I don't particularly care which parent stays home, but nobody's going to convince me that a nanny or day care center is better at raising a child than that child's mother or father.

Personally, if I had to stay home and raise the kids, I would. I don't know if that would be totally advisable--I'm prone to causing disasters, up to and including small fires, when left to my own devices domestically--but I trust myself to raise my kids more than I do some bozo who's in it for the paycheck.

Crazy_Vasey · Post by **Crazy_Vasey** » 2003-02-09 06:48am

Darth Wong wrote:Grrr .... this whole fucking thread is permeated with the popular belief that staying at home and raising your children yourself is:

A) easy.
B) not worthy of respect.

That is fucking bullshit and I'm sick of it. My wife has a very difficult, demanding job. The fact that she doesn't get paid for it is a goddamned social injustice, not an indictment of the value of her contribution to society.

Damn right. Whanever I'm on holidays I'm always amazed by the amount of boring crap my mam has to do every day. The fact that she lugs about half a ton of shopping home every tuesday is pretty amazing as well considering she has a bad shoulder and is pushing the 50 mark.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2003-02-09 06:52am

But you know what? Raising a child is a job that YOU chose. No stay-at-home parent should get paid for that. Who is going to pay them? The payment, I would think, is seeing the child grow into a healthy and well adjusted adult.

I think that staying at home to raise children is very admirable. I would never think of disrespecting someone for that either.