Working for Lifestyle/Extras

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-22-2005
Working for Lifestyle/Extras
3621
Mon, 11-20-2006 - 11:13am

Hi Ladies :)

This is my first time on this debate board and I have been dying to jump into some of the topics, but I feel as though they are sooooo long (one in particular is over 1000 replies, yikes!) that starting my own specific one might work out better.

Anyhow, a recurring theme here seems to be what Moms should and shouldn't be going to work for. It seems some are of the opinion that is OK for Mom to work if she must to pay her bills but NOT if its to afford a nice car, house, good neighborhood. This is considered keeping up with the Johnses (who are they???) and thats bad.

Well, I want to know what in the heck is wrong with a women working to have nice things? I don't mean working and leaving baby in child care 16 hours a day, everyday...thats pretty extreme.

I enjoyed a certain lifestyle before having a child, should I have downsized that lifestyle once baby came so I didn't have to work? What about me *wanting* to maintain a certain lifestyle for myself, my husband, and my child makes me a (a) workaholic or (b) striving to keep up with the Joneses?

Don't some people (like myself) simply enjoy living in a nice place with nice things and want their children to have the same experience?

So please, anyone who thinks a women is wrong for WOH if she is not doing so to financially survive but does it to maintain a certain lifestyle...whats wrong with this?

Thanks all :)

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 11-29-2006 - 10:01am

LOL, I am sorry, but these things fascinate me on some level. I guess you would not want to check out the Duggar family's recipe page? ;)

http://www.jimbob.info/recipes.html

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 11-29-2006 - 10:06am
Right, and although vanity may not be noble, ambition is pretty important to keeping the wheels turning. In either case, I don't think it is healthy to deny these impulses, if you have them. I watched my grandmother do that for a lifetime, and her bitterness at the end of it was sad.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 11-29-2006 - 10:10am
OK, so you would like to make sure that tax dollars only go to licensed and capable DCPs? That seems very reasonable, but obviously would necessitate a much greater degree of direct government involvement in the enterprise. It was my impression that you were against that sort of thing, thus my surprise.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 11-29-2006 - 10:14am

"In either case, I don't think it is healthy to deny these impulses, if you have them. I watched my grandmother do that for a lifetime, and her bitterness at the end of it was sad."


Exactly the same with my mother.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 11-14-2006
Wed, 11-29-2006 - 10:25am
I am against it. You asked, wasn't the dcp still being paid, and I clarified: not necessarily.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 11-29-2006 - 10:28am
How sad, I am very sorry. I remember that it shocked me in my grandmother, because she was always extremely active and involved in many things. She read voraciously, in several languages, traveled with a vengeance (always researching her destination ahead of time), collected art seriously, kept an amazing home, cooked at a professional level and on and on like that. But she was also charismatic, vivacious, intelligent and a control freak. Clearly all those characteristics did not ever get the outlet that she would have liked.
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-27-1998
Wed, 11-29-2006 - 10:40am

<<Currently unlicensed and inferior dcps would not see tax dollars. Otherwise unqualified dcps would also not likely be hired by the gov. >>


Are you kidding?

PumpkinAngel

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-12-2003
Wed, 11-29-2006 - 10:45am
See above.

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 11-29-2006 - 10:47am

Six years ago, our family of four was living quite comfortably on dh's salary of $60000 (and those are Canadian dollars) a year. Comfortably, mind you - not luxuriously. However, our house was only worth $115000, and our property taxes were $1600 a year. We started saving for the kid's college funds when they were born, but we never planned on a full four year ride. We put money in retirement savings, but DH had a pretty good company pension. Being Canadian, health insurance was never an issue.

Things have really changed here in the past 5 years. Housing prices have exploded - there is not a single house for sale in my small town for less than $300000.

Carrie

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-12-2003
Wed, 11-29-2006 - 10:48am
You gotta love any recipe that includes the instruction "Cover with Tater Tots."

 

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