Rock and a Hard Place

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-12-2003
Rock and a Hard Place
1524
Thu, 11-20-2003 - 10:45am

There's something on this board that has been bothering me, and I hope I can articulate it.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Mon, 11-24-2003 - 12:54pm
Thats one thing that is kind of funny about demographics. Up here, the further out of the city you live, the more $$ you usually have. Of course, land is a HUGE draw up here. Most big homes are on over an acre, and people seek out acreage over just about anything else. The homes that are on a lot of land tend to be more out of town.

dj

Dj

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

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 11-24-2003 - 12:57pm
I guess that's true here too (far out to get more acreage), but I'm not sure you realize how horrible the commutes are around here.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 11-24-2003 - 12:59pm
Don't bother - the stuff written about the book was largely written by people that hadn't READ the book. (She's not an advocate for SAH over WOH AT ALL - for one thing, she's a WOH, I believe always has been - I specifically remember a funny conversation we once had about balancing work and family where she told me about how she kept having to take breaks during her bar exam to BF her daughter.) That it's gotten so people can't be in good school districts w/o two parents working is a large part of the her point - that's the "trap" - that women went to work in large #s precisely to make lives better for their children, but one of the effects of so many doing so that house prices rose so much that now most people HAVE to have dual FT working parents to meet their fixed expenses.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 11-24-2003 - 1:03pm

Ok, but I'm not going to move to a geographic area where we can afford to live on one income - not gonna happen!

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Mon, 11-24-2003 - 1:12pm
Oh I've heard. Traffic is one thing we dont deal with excessively here (everyone complains about it and I just have to laugh-they've obviously never driven I-5 through Lax...). Thats one reason I choose NOT to live in metropolitan cities!

We live 30 miles outside the city. Depending on the weather, our commute can be 30 minutes or 2 hrs. Its less about the traffic itself here, but the road conditions can sometimes create long delays.

dj

Dj

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

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-17-2003
Mon, 11-24-2003 - 1:22pm
"Never worked a computer prior to school" is not indicative of a disadvantaged child. In fact, it's ridiculous for elementary schools to be spending money on providing children with computers. Elementary aged children gain nothing from using computers and when children need to start learning to use them in middle and high school, they are quite capable of doing so. Computer use isn't like literacy or math skills which need a strong foundation. A child who has been given a good solid grounding in reading, writing, and math will have no trouble learning to use the computer.

In fact, the less exposure children have to television and computers in the early years, the better, so those children you were describing could actually be the advantaged ones.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 11-24-2003 - 1:25pm

"Elementary aged children gain nothing from using computers and when children need to start learning to use them in middle and high school, they are quite capable of doing so."


Do you have any idea how much educational software is available?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 11-24-2003 - 1:30pm

"You can say that WOHMs whose incomes increase their family's SES (if it's needs to be increased) benefit their kids by working. "


This is a big deal.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 11-24-2003 - 1:31pm
You'll have to read the book. She doesn't recommend that you do, just points out that HAVING to rely on 2 incomes to meet a mortgage payment is a position that decreases a family's financial security. (This is one of those things you financially savvy dual income folks ought to find obvious but don't.)
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 11-24-2003 - 1:35pm

Yes it does decrease a family's financial security.

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