Unique contributions to society
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| Thu, 10-19-2006 - 4:12pm |
In another thread, the "unique" contributions of SAHM's were alluded to but it wasn't stated what they are. Let's play a game and find out what they are. First, pretend that as of tomorrow, all moms SAH and detail what will be missing from society then pretend that all moms go to work and detail what will be missing from society. I'm really curious as to what people think a world without SAHM's orWOHM's would look like.
If all the moms who SAH went to work then the library would move story hour to the evening and summer vacation bible school would be held in the evenings so that all kids can attend and not just the kids of SAHM's. Banks would likely shift their hours to later in the day and you'd see more 24 hour stores. I think there would be more home cooking style restaurants too. I think day care centers would improve because of increased demand.
If all moms who WOH suddenly SAH, you'd see fewer service industries around because moms could do things themselves instead of paying for them. The nursing shortage would be more of a shortage. We'd probably have a shortage of teachers too. There'd be fewer government services because there'd be less tax dollars to pay for them. I can't think of anything else right now.

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For starters, being a teacher requires a four-year college degree with special state certification, whereas "Child care workers generally can obtain some form of employment with a high school diploma and little or no experience" (http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos170.htm#training).
I think most individuals would consider a degreed kindergarten teacher more suitable to educate children than a child care worker with a high school diploma. And I know for a fact that day cares, at least in Texas, hire workers without high school diplomas. NOt that we're known for our superior educational system though. Things no doubt are different in Iowa.
That didn't answer any of my questions.
PumpkinAngel
<http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos170.htm#training).>>
For starters, my post clearly stated of good quality.
PumpkinAngel
My posts all have to do with specific situations. If a mom decided to stay home to be with her children, ergo, not using any kind of othercare... would her time at home between 9 and 3 ish be necessary once the child starts school?? She was taking care of her child before... now, the child is in school, so some of the day, she is not needed like she was before.
I'm not assuming anything...
I'm not talking about dual working parents for the time before the child starts school...
I'm talking about one situation, and my original post before this went on a tangent, was that I would not personally see the point of being home when the child is in school. They do not need you to play blocks with them from 9 to 3, make grill cheese sandwiches, help them on the potty or watch blues clues with them.
Are you telling me that "good quality" day cares provide only ECE degreed workers? So an infant in a "good quality" day care is directly cared for by a person with a four-year college degree? Or do you mean that the director of the day care has an early childhood education degree? Or do you mean something different by ECE degree than I do? (4 year college degree in early childhood education)
Or are there only a small percentage of "good quality" day cares in your opinion? I find it very hard to believe that all "good quality" day cares could possibly staff their facilities with college-degreed individuals paying a median earning of $8.06 per hour. Schools in this area have trouble finding degreed, certified individuals for $40,000 per year, let alone $16,000, roughly the median income of day care workers in May 2004.
"Pay depends on the educational attainment of the worker and the type of establishment. Although the pay generally is very low, more education usually means higher earnings. Median hourly earnings of wage and salary child care workers were $8.06 in May 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $6.75 and $10.01. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $5.90, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $12.34. Median hourly earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of child care workers in 2004 were as follows:
Other residential care facilities $9.66
Elementary and secondary schools 9.22
Civic and social organizations 7.62
Other amusement and recreation industries 7.58
Child day care services 7.34
Earnings of self-employed child care workers vary depending on the hours worked, the number and ages of the children, and the location.
Benefits vary, but are minimal for most child care workers. Many employers offer free or discounted child care to employees. Some offer a full benefits package, including health insurance and paid vacations, but others offer no benefits at all. Some employers offer seminars and workshops to help workers learn new skills. A few are willing to cover the cost of courses taken at community colleges or technical schools. Live-in nannies receive free room and board."
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos170.htm#training
What is YMMV? And I forgot what the question was.
I actually do get what you are saying, and I'm not sure if you are being rhetorical or are legitimately curious, but I'll take a stab at an answer.
If you are asking about people who are terrified of othercare for their children, I would imagine that there are very few of those, and most of those would probably homeschool.
For the more typical folks, it's a matter of feeling that othercare -- particularly group daycare/preschool -- becomes more appropriate at a slower rate, and at hours less than school hours for the years prior to starting school.
I would expect that a lot of this is cultural. Other countries start preschool sooner and for longer hours than is typical in the U.S., and even different parts of this country vary in what is deemed the appropriate amount and type of preschool. The "magic" is when longer hours feel right to the parents, and since the state says longer hours are right starting at K, most people are comfortable with that.
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