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: 09-13-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 3:09pm
I can explain how I do things.

I have a daily housekeeper. I plan out her week in advance (the Friday before which is also pay day and the time we sit down & discuss next week --if I'm unavailable, out of town, etc then we do it at another time before the following week or per phone or her email. Her checks are at the accountant's office to pick up). I may change, alter, omit, add things randomly through the week as I see fit or needs to be done. When we are entertaining or hosting a big event in our home major changes & discussion have to take place obviously.

I have a lawn tech who takes care of all outdoors. They usually work 3 days a week. More if I'm hosting a garden or pool party.

Then we have the pool cleaned every morning. That one is simple. They show up. Check is sent monthly.

I have a lady who comes in to cook for us. 3 dinners a week. More if I ask. Meals other than just dinner if I ask. Again, if I'm entertaining or hosting, that all changes. But it isn't the same 3 days every week. She also goes to the super market, goes picks up fresh fruits, vegetables, goes to buy the organic foods, etc. So I have to get with her every week on not only her schedule but also the meal planning, the shopping list as I have a say in all of it, unless I say, surprise me.

The nanny doesn't work every day, those hours/days vary by what we are doing, when I need her, etc. Again, I have to get with her.

So, while it isn't a huge block of time, these functions *do* take some time to coordinate.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 3:10pm
The other reason elementary school isn't classified as childcare, while preschool can be, is that children are REQUIRED by law to be in elementary school (or give proof of homeschooling) in order to get an education. The education is mandatory, it is incidental that the school is also caring for the children while educating them.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-13-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 3:10pm
Gosh, I could never be bored. There is more and more stuff I want to do and have no time to squeeze it in!

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 3:10pm
I've always wondered the same thing. The only time in my life I've ever had breakfast in bed is when my midwife made it for me after my first son was born. I'd been pushing for three hours at the delivery and was utterly exhausted and starving!
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 3:18pm
The real difference between school and daycare/childcare is that a school's primary purpose is education. Preschool is in a gray zone between childcare and school, where some formalized teaching may be taking place- or maybe not. It isn't mandatory that there be an educational curriculum as such, the way a school is required to. That's why it's called PREschool.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 3:20pm
Well.....I'm on the board of directors of our church preschool; we don't require the kids to be toilet trained until they are in the pre-K room (though most of the 3 y/o's either start the year trained or accomplish it before Christmas; I think we have one left in diapers in the 3 y/o room right not. My old family daycare required kids to refrain from hitting, kicking or biting other children - and both are about equal in their expectations that kids follow a schedule -- i.e., there are some activities that happen on schedule (circle time, gymnastics bus, chapel, etc) and lots of free play/choice activity in both settings.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 3:22pm
ITA. I don't think the mere act of doing something that earns a paycheck necessarily contributes to society. Your examples of lawyers for Big Tobacco or organized crime are 2 good examples of legitimate jobs that make society a worse place.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-21-2001
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 3:22pm
I agree. Particularly true here in CA, or other dry areas of the southwest.

Selective squeamishness can cost a lot of money, not to mention resources.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-21-2001
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 3:24pm
Not me, man. I'd love it. Admittedly, I've only been "jobless" for a total of 3 weeks in my adult life. I enjoyed it though. Maybe eventually I'd get bored, but it would probably take me a good year or two.

I'd rather be home trying a new recipe or making a quilt than at work, that's for sure.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-02-2003 - 3:39pm
I'm so glad you're not shallow. I mean really, it seems self-indulgent, don't you think?

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