Heart vs. Head: The work status decision

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Heart vs. Head: The work status decision
2102
Tue, 01-17-2006 - 1:03pm
Did you make your decision to SAH/WAH/WOH ft/pt based primarily on objective/tangible factors, or with your heart?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 02-08-2006 - 11:21am

Ah well those technicalities! Thats okay, I've been told I am *not* a pt woh because my job does not require the use of dc...

lol

dj

Dj

"Now when I need help, I look in the mirror" ~Kanye West~

Avatar for mom34101
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 02-08-2006 - 11:25am
I believe in this strategy too. I shuddered a bit when I read above about 3K and 5K mortgages. A lot of our financial security comes from having a one-income lifestyle, even though we have two people who could (and do) work.
Avatar for mom34101
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 02-08-2006 - 11:30am
So did you just start subbing 7 hrs/wk? I don't understand the 35 hrs in 5 years. To me, someone who subs a couple of times a year is not a wohm. 7 hrs/wk is, I suppose, a *very* pt wohm.
Avatar for mom34101
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 02-08-2006 - 11:42am
Lol. I've been told I don't really understand the life of a wohm, even though I woh 30 hrs/wk, because I didn't woh when my kids were babies.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 02-08-2006 - 11:45am
You went to WOH sleep deprived on a regular basis, just like many WOHMs who have infants do, even though your kids were older when you WOH?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 02-08-2006 - 11:48am
I'm glad my mom felt the same way. I am one of four kids born within 6 years, and my mom tooks us to do all kinds of fun things without help. None of us ever got seriously ill or injured.
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-04-2004
Wed, 02-08-2006 - 12:11pm

It determines an increased risk of contracting illness- the younger the infant the greater the risk. There is, of course, the flip side of that coin- that the older child who has been exposed to daycare as a younger child tends to have a *decreased* risk of illness- *however* when one looks at the fact that a younger child (specifically an infant) has a far greater increased risk of serious -complications- from said increased risk of illness, I think the risk to benefit ratio is clearly in favor of avoiding *early* exposure to avoid that increased risk of serious complication. MHO.

Wytchy

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-04-2004
Wed, 02-08-2006 - 12:30pm

***Wow, you are ever so much faster than I was.***

No- my kids are just closer in age- my DD started walking only a few months ago. Until then if we were out and about she was carried. Easy to get to *her*. And I was right by DS because he wasn't even 2.

***My kids were farther apart in age and always going different directions, it was near impossible to catch (and wash their hands) before they touched their mouth/nose/eyes etc.***

I'm sure it would be more difficult when they're older- but I also don't think it's an issue as much when they're older. Their immune systems are better able to handle things as they get older.

***I was never very diligent about constant hand washing or using purcell (I am assuming that is some kind of soap or anti-bacterial stuff?). I guess I was lucky in the fact that they never caught anything major and are (knock wood) always been pretty darn healthy, eh?***

Yep- lucky is a big part of it. (Purell- it's the liquid hand sanitizer that's in every doctors office you go into just about. They use it before/after seeing patients. Parents use it when sinks/soap aren't handy.) Also- since I had two under two and until very recently, and was unable to breastfeed, I was very cautious about illness. Ones so little are far more at risk for serious complications.

***Ah, the difference here. We were always outside in our backyard or at the playground, I have two very outside boys. I took both children to the park when they were infants, didn't turn them loose but allowed them to play. I did pretty well without helpers, although my are 22 months apart and not 11-12.***

There is a big difference between 22mo apart and 11-12mo IMO. ;) Guess it's something you have to experience to understand ;) Try asking the question of whether parents would do that with such close siblings on the close sibs boards around here. I've done so because I wondered whether other moms of such close sibs were doing it- *how* they were doing it and whether or not I was the only one *not* really doing it. Most everyone said they kept the kids in the double stroller unless they had an extra set of hands until they were about 3. I tend to agree there. It's just not something I'd do at their ages/stages now or then.

Wytchy

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-04-2004
Wed, 02-08-2006 - 12:36pm

That would only be the case if the WOHP in question would rather be a SAHP and is frustrated by the fact that they don't think they can, wouldn't it? Otherwise it's more an issue of someone else just having confidence that dual WOHP's could manage to do whatever it is that they want to do with a bit of planning. Doesn't seem patronizing to me at all- it seems empowering- thinking that people can do what they want to and choose to do with some work and planning.... But whatever.

Wytchy

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-04-2004
Wed, 02-08-2006 - 12:41pm

LOL! Yeah- I don't get that either. Around here, it starts snowing and the road is cleared within a half hour. The store's right down the road. It's not like they couldn't wait. But Nooooooo- at that first snowflake the store's packed to the gills LOL! People are crazy.

On the other hand- when I lived in the country snowplows were pretty rare- they just didn't go where we lived. It was bad enough trying to get a 4wd truck around those back roads, (if you slid off the road, you were going down a mountain pretty much... Not real safe LOL) let alone a big bus full of screaming unseatbelted kids on those icy roads.

Wytchy

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