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: 08-19-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 12:03pm
Yes, daily washing seems wasteful to me.

Unless you're going to bed all dirty, muddy & sweaty, which is just gross. :)

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 12:04pm
Nope, not at all. Staff first. Then more staff. Then personal assistant. Personal assistants don't generally manage staff either. They manage details, not people. It requires even more staff to get to the point where one hires - not a pa,- but an actual manager or supervisor - who then manages other people. That is well beyond the point where a person is able to live that spa only life. And usually at that point, the manager is managing not just a personal life but a professional/business one as well.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 12:04pm
Because every parent has an obligation to take care of his or her own children. The obligation to take care of my children is only contractual for the nanny. And your earlier post was right - by her working, she enables us to both work (and improve all of our quality of life).

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 12:07pm
So, guessing, you are putting in 10% of your Mom's financial contribution to get 50% of your Mom's house?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 12:11pm
Hey, finally someone's at least trying to answer that one!

Even then, I do believe the extra income my DH makes by being able to work longer hours (and the tax bracket we are in as compared to the average nanny's) more than makes up for this, even.

Wow, I hadn't considered, though, that even though my family does just dandy on my DH's income, I'm actually doing society a disservice by being the SAH one in our family, because I made even MORE $$ than DH and we would be paying even more in taxes if he SAH and I worked than we do with him working and me SAH! Oh, dear. I just feel so bad for the world now that I'm not working in it - I'm now personally responsible for a large chunk the budget deficit, I guess.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-19-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 12:13pm
Sorry, I'm just not buying that managing a "staff" takes SO much effort. Yes, I'm sure it takes *some* time, but not nearly as much as you're making out.

What's the point of having a staff if it makes your life SO difficult and hard to manage?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 12:20pm
So what's the societal contribution of fulfilling a contractual obligation that does not exist with a moral and legal one?

Again, so you both WOH. What does WOH contribute to anyone OTHER than your own family?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 12:22pm
It sure does take up lots of time.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-19-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 12:29pm
Do you employ a "staff"? If so, could you please detail for me the "lots" of time it takes?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 12:29pm
The work product we create contributes. We contribute to the GNP by paying our nanny enough to afford to buy her own house.

What do you mean by your first sentence?

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