Is the SAHM the new status symbol?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Is the SAHM the new status symbol?
1697
Tue, 09-23-2003 - 10:36pm
In the 70's and 80's women fought to get into the workforce (the whole Ms. magazine generation)...and then the tide turned in the late 1990's when more women started to stay home by choice. Now, it seems like being a SAHM is a status symbol....and superior to being a working mom.

Kat

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 9:19am
Right, but many WOHPs work PT, flex time, limited hours, WAH, all kinds of situations. I know one WOHP who only works 19 hours a week. If you are a big school/church volunteer, then you probably put in more hours than she does. That's why I thought your situation sounded more like a typical WOH situation than a SAH situation.

Susan

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-13-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 9:26am
OMG, are you serious? You can't think of things to do outside of work and volunteering?

I don't volunteer a great deal of time to school & church together. I can easily keep myself busy with other things in life.

I pursue things that interest me. I get involved in reading. You can take a cake decorating class (if that is what one desires, I did). You can spend time putting personal touches on your home (outside of the cleaning). You can cook (which I could spend all my days doing I love it so much). Get together with friends. Lunch. Go to the salon for the day. Get involved in a bible study group that meets weekly. Spending time with my parents and my granny. Spending time travelling. Having a vacation home to spend time there. Take a class in photography & pursue it by travelling to take pictures. Write a novel or short stories. Shopping (if one considers that an interest). Taking a drive (not talking a short one, I love to drive an hour or two just for the scenic view & photography opportunities). Being here when my husband runs home in the middle of the day, having the free time to just drop by his office & visit. Taking a cooking class or a class on floral arranging. Working on crafty items in the quiet of my home. Flying up to Chicago or to New York for a broadway show or to do some shopping. Going out to LA just to view the scenes and be a tourist. Go up to San Franscico, Seattle, Dallas. I travel a lot now, with my kids along. I'd even travel more if I didn't have children. Taking in a matinee or curling up in front of the television to get engrossed in a movie or something else of interest.

These are just the things off the top of my head. Not near *everything*, that would be a too longer post!

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-13-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 9:27am
Well not in *your* opinion. But in mine, they *do* deserve respect the same as you do for your choices of living life as your desire.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-13-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 9:27am
We vastly disagree.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-13-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 9:31am
My DH also cooks for me. Even serves me in bed complete w/flowers. It can go both ways even as a Sahm.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-13-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 9:33am
You have to got to be kidding! I love it! Of course, I can't remember the last time I spilled anything and the sheets get changed daily anyway, so that would be a moot point anyhow.

I love this and yes, the flowers!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 9:34am
<<<>>>

No, I WAH and I contribute financially to our household.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-13-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 9:35am
I also don't volunteer any where 19 hours a week! Some weeks, yes. But every week, no.

Sure. I can only think of how it was when *I* worked.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-13-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 9:39am
I could never feel subservent by doing things for my dh or he couldn't feel that way doing things for me.

I could only be in a partnership style marriage like you & garden are chatting about. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a marriage in my eyes or those of my dh's.

We have a give & take, supportive relationship.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 9:42am
The idea of food in my bed is just gross, IMO. You change your sheets daily? Why? Do they get that dirty? I wouldn't do it because one, it's not practical or necessary, and two, because it woudl be placing more soapy water into the enviroment when it's really not necessary.

Susan

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