Does your Huntsville spouse have to work?

[financelife]

Originally Posted by flstatenolefan

LOL! My DH would be thrilled if I pulled minimum wage while I was working because my salary shot us into a completely different tax bracket. Not only did I make more than he did, my benefits were much better.

Some people choose not to make their life choices based on what others think they should do. Instead, we do what is right for our family.

I'm just amazed at your narrowmindedness, considering how young and liberal you profess to be.

Doesn't liberal = wife going to work?.........Maybe the cries of feminism have reversed back to keep women at home? Things change so often in this society it seems. I'm all for a woman going out there and pulling her weight.

How many oldy but goldies do we have on this board? I was just answering a question gosh be darned. Please don't have any harsh feelings towards me. There is room in the light for every one of us.

Charles, get you a working gal! Doesn't have to be a job, but she better be workin it.

[Huntsville82]

What is your definition of oldy, but goldy?? I'm 44 and hardly consider myself old considering I have a 4 and 6 year old...LOL.

You keep living like you want, sweetie, and I'm sure you will land yourself a real nice catch. ;-)

[financelife]

Originally Posted by Charles

Come to think of it, my wife does scoot me out the door a little quicker on yard day....

Hedges getting trimmed outdoors and indoors eh? lol

[Toymeister]

A family does not need two incomes in this area to live fairly well although extra income does raise the standard of living. That said I don’t see why anyone who respects their spouse would not support him/her if s/he did not wish to work for whatever reason. Seriously, if contributors to this post are pro working spouse (Wife most commonly referred to) then they should go over to Moderator cut: forum where they will have plenty of company. There are plenty of wife bashers over there.

[zenjenn]

Like I said, they ain't what they used to be brother. Mama stayed home to look after us children, but she cooked, cleaned and could churn butter too.

I'd like to point out that the "oldy but goody" stay-at-home mom did not have many, many tasks on her list, including but not limited to:

- keeping children under age 5 in sight at all times without fearing a call to CPS
- attending 30 extravagant, headache-inducing birthday parties a year,
- buckling and unbuckling a 5-point safety harness in every car, stroller, and high chair
- driving kids to activities 3-5 days a week, often being required to attend the duration
- sit at hours' long organized playgroups and playdates
- additional errands such as tracking and returning recalled toys and food, six times as many vaccinations, attending school field trips and planning birthday parties to remotely compete with the other 30 birthday parties.

That's just some off the top of my head. Compare that to the "oldy but goody" who kicked offspring over the age of 2 or 3 outside and told them to come home before dark. If their kids played baseball or something, their kid just did it - mom wasn't expected to sit at practice and games week after week and bring snacks for the whole team. If their infant cried incessantly, they gave them oldy but goody "colic medicine" (aka morphine) instead of working through it, who let their kids chew on lead-coated toys and dealt with stress by smoking cigarettes by the pack without any concern about the health effects on her kids.

Mind you, I'm not saying it's ALL better now. I think my generation of parents has gotten a little too wrapped up in parenting. But our culture demands a whole new level of crazy from today's stay-at-home parent. So if today's at-home mom's house looks like a tornado hit one day, it's probably not because she's lazy or entitled. It's probably because she's been driven to near-madness by the guilt-induced demands of the modern mom.

Cut her some freakin' slack.

[amsa526]

Had to chime in ... we are a single income family.
My wife is a stay-at-home mom. She is our kids' mom.
But prior to that she was a financial officer for Coke and a CPA/auditor from the Big Three. Heck ---- she made big bucks ... even compared to my MBA!

She opted to stay at home while the kids are in their formative to teen years ---- and I whole heartfully support this move. She does bring her 'corporate' thinking to the household which is funny. BTW - political leanings has nothing to do with being a 'stay-at-home' mom. There is a high correlation but it is NOT a causal relationship. We have friends who homeschool like us but are ultra-liberals by CA standards!

One of the added bonuses for looking at HSV and other similar areas is the opportunity to have this kind of lifestyle... which is simply not possible for us right now in California. This is not the driving reason but a good bonus.

[Southlander]

OK, I'll own up to being old 'n gold...I was a stay-at-home mom...sort of. I quit full-time work (and in my field, I never did and never will make more than my husband...heck, I'll never make as much as my kids do now) to stay home with the twins when they were 13 months old.

It was not a good decision for me.

After about 3 years, I went back to work part-time, but worked out of my home. I was glad to do it, and glad to give my kids the security of having me there for them all the time, but it just about drove me totally nuts. I remember my mom, back when ALL moms but a handful stayed at home. She was desperate for adult company, but she was not shy and not too busy to call up neighbors for kaffeklatches, or join a garden club, or be PTA homeroom mother.

I NEVER think less of someone staying at home with their young kids, or NOT staying at home. I have several friends who went back to work, and their kids turned out fine. I have lots of friends who stayed home, and their kids turned out fine, too.

You have to do what's best for you. And only you can figure that out.

And another thing...I thought I would go back to work when the kids started driving. One afternoon, shortly after they did, I came back late from the grocery store. The house was surrounded by cars and teen-agers were spilling out the doors. That was fine with me...when the kids were younger, ours was the house they'd all hang out at and come to for snacks.

By the time I got out of the car and into the house, they were all gone. So...I figured I'd better postpone my return to work for a couple more years!