(Working mothers vs stay at home mom's crap that Cata was displaying ignorance on) The only other person on this board I would really like to hear from now is Mrs. Rookie. Prepare for legitimate righteous indignation from her.
Sorry. I missed this whole thread due to getting caught up in a few bottles of white wine and a particularly captivating story line from General Hospital. Let me tell you, the girls and I had much to talk about while getting our hair done!
OK, so while I'm not exactly a stay at home dad, I work at night and raise the kids during the day. I could be making much more money, but not really. See, the big money not being made by me is also not bbeing spent. Child care is expensive here in the US. I'm looking at close to $700 a week for my 5 still not in school yet plus after school care for the other 3. I'm able to spend the day raising them. Plus I'm able to do various homeowner fixes to the house. So far this winter I've been able to fix 3 broken pipes and a couple windows. I would have had to hire a contractor or limit myself to weekend projects. For shits and grins I got an estimate to fix one of the pipes, the leaking wastewater pipe. $900. I was able to fix it for a little less than $120. Because I had the time.
2 hours of chores. Ok. So you're going to compare me to some jack ass slacker at your office. Without knowing my work ethic or what it is I actually do, you're going to put my work duties as laundry, dusting, sweeping (or vacuuming if there's carpeting), windexing, cooking, and general straightening up. It's that about right, did I miss anything? Ok. To just maintain, to do enough to not get fired, you're probably right. But who the hell wants that? And for you to assume that's it (based on your 2 hours a day, that's what you're assuming) is more than a little insulting. And it's an insult based on ignorance.
Now it's about time we think of the children. I am raising them. Their dad is raising them during the day. And their mom at night. What prove tag would you put on that? My kids, all 8, of them I know. I mean I really know them. I'm able to take an active part in their lives. These kids are confident well adjusted individuals. These are not latch key kids. My daughters know, without question they KNOW, that Daddy and Mommy love them. The self respect they have blows away any from someone coming from a more traditional house where patents leave in the morning and come back in the evening.
Oh. And since I'm able to cook for my family (or show off as Mrs. Rookie would say), I'll put a mortgage payment that they not only eat tastier food, but healthier as well. In a nation that's getting more obese by the day, I'm able to feed them good food. In my stay at home dad house, we understand the microwave is for heating food, not cooking.
MellORL, I know you said you want to hear from Mrs. Rookie. I'm sorry. She's at work now. She works 9 hours a day and is kinda tired at the end of it. Well, about as tired as any office worker who comes home at the end of the day. It's killing her that she's not at home with the kids, but in 2008 I lost my job and she didn't. That's how the cards fell, that's the hand we're playing. Something else I bet you didn't think of, Cata. So she comes home, does any straightening up left plus dishes from supper. She plays with the kids for like an hour, then gets them ready for bed. And I'm not going to see her til Thursday, my next day off.
Hey Cata, are you a conservative by chance? I ask because you brought up that unless the family is some quiverfull fuckwit, blah blah blah. I ask because it's been my experience that is only small government conservatives that concern themselves about the choices that families make like this.
ETA: I'm very proud of what it is I do during the day. I'm proud and I'm very happy, consider myself lucky for the ability to do this. Self sufficiency has been an obsession of mine for a long time. If you think is better to pawn off your primary responsibility, fine. I disagree. But I'll give your choices the exact same level of respect you're showing me for mine. That's fair, right?
