Militants - are they for real?
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Militants - are they for real?
| Tue, 04-14-2009 - 6:59pm |
Someone on another board posted this link.
http://blogs.babycenter.com/celebrities/2009/04/12/dr-laura-says-all-moms-should-stay-at-home/?scid=momstodd_20090414_A:2&pe=2U8vYLf
It's about Dr. Laura saying that all women should be SAHMs until the child is at least 3 years old.
Whether we're talking about working or staying at home, I can't quite wrap my head around what is going on inside the brains of people that apply the phrase "all women should".
Do you think militants are actually serious, or just trying to get a rise out of others?







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Ah, sure, even if it is only temporary. Taking the long view, it may still be a gain if you count over ten years, for example, rather than just the years when the kids are small and in daycare.
But I do know what you mean. Something else that took me aback when dd was small was the huge variation in cost (and quality) of daycare arrangements. Decent daycare cost anywhere from 275-400 a week (back then), but it was possible to get center care for around 150 as well (with untrained helpers who screamed at the kids all day long) and unlicensed home care with way too many kids and other problems for about 100. In that situation the mother in our example might be able to make a "profit" from working, but only if she were willing to put her kids in substandard care.
Whoovillereject's whole attitude seems to be that every family needs to make in the high $50s rather than the low $40s to be financially secure, and I just don't agree with that view.
That all depends on where you live, also. The estimated median household income in my zip code in 2007 was $89,828.
I don't think you can put a number on that and it depends on so many things other than just numbers.
But if we stick with numbers, to be secure and to be prudent a family should have, IMO, the aforementioned 6 months of living expenses in liquid savings, long-term retirement savings and savings to pay for college or other training for the kids. In addition they need health insurance and a decent place to live. The latter varies especially in price. There are places in Nebraska where you can buy a perfectly ok house for 40K. In NY, OTOH, 40K may get you a parking space if you are really lucky. So, are they in a house that cost 50K, 300K or 800K? Is rent for a 2BR apartment in their area 200 a month or 2000?
As for the non-number stuff, I have to say that I never had any desire to SAH. I did try it here and there because circumstances so demanded, and it always seemed pointless to me. OTOH, we also have a tailor-made work set-up that is non-traditional. In any event, my family would be one that would never consider having a SAH any kind of tenable long-term arrangement regardless of the financial situation.
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