Originally Posted By DAR That was in reference to your bon bons and Oprah comment which I forget to quote.
Originally Posted By sherrytodd Feminism did not drive women into the work force and drive up inflation. Greed is what drove women into the work force and drove up inflation. It's a simple fact. People want more. Another income means more money, a bigger house, more toys... It's why we are working 50 - 70+ hours a week now. Now pass the bon bons and the remote.
Originally Posted By Ursula Amen, sista! And no, I do more features work so I'm good with the writer's strike for a while or two. Actually, I'm banking on the TV shows slowing down so that I can capture more Features work.
Originally Posted By Mrs ElderP I would say that it was WWII, not the feminists that drove women into the workforce. Once the "boys" came home many stopped, but it was just too apealing and more and more returned. I have heard many interesting reviews of, but never actually read the book, _The Two Income Trap_. According to the author interviews I have heard the sharply rising bankruptcy rate is due to more and more two income families. Old Days: Dad worked for pay, Mom worked for the family. If Dad was injured on the job or died suddenly then Mom went to work. Usually Mom's income couldn't totally replace Dad's, but it could make a dent. New Days: Both Mom and Dad work for pay and work for the family. Now you have doubled the odds that a wage earner in the family will have long term disability issues. Once either Mom or Dad goes down for a signifigant amount of time, there is absolutly no way to replace the missing income. Hence: Bankruptcy The book also posits the theroy that much of Mom's wages are eaten up by the second car and childcare. Secondarily that most people are getting themselves in trouble in the housing market, not by buying granite countertops and 3 full baths, but by stretching themselves to buy in the best possible school district. (And who can argue with that motivation.) For some (biased) numbers on the odds of being diabled here is a link to an insurance company website. <a href="http://www.affordableinsuranceprotection.com/odds_of_disability" target="_blank">http://www.affordableinsurance protection.com/odds_of_disability</a> Here is the Amazon.com link to the aforementioned book. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Two-Income-Trap-Middle-Class-Parents-Going/dp/B0009309HW/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197508671&sr=8-1" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/Two-Inco me-Trap-Middle-Class-Parents-Going/dp/B0009309HW/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197508671&sr=8-1</a>
Originally Posted By JohnS1 I don't blame feminism, but I do think there should be only one wage earner, whether it's a man or a woman, when children are young, thereby leaving one parent to watch his/her own child, rather than farming them out to hired help. I will say that as one of those rare single worker households, we have had to scrimp and save our entire working lives because we only had one income, but I feel it was worth it to have one of us with the children at home, rather than using day care or hiring babysitters. My kids are 26, 19 and 16 and we have never hired a babysitter in out lives. I don't regret that one bit.
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains I have been home for 16 years now...I had a child - my husband had already left so I knew I would be a single parent - I worked until my first son was 11 months old - I met my current and last husband the day my divorce was final - this Christmas will be the 18th annv of the day we were engaged. I worked again for a year after we were married - but after the birth of my second son, the cost of daycare and the thought of someone else raising our children was too great of a price...I did daycare in our home for 6 years - when we moved to our current home nearly 10 years ago the thought of doing daycare and having a pool was too much. I stay home - our youngest is 9 our oldest is nearly 19. I will think about getting a parttime job when youngest is in middle school in 2 years. Until then we want someone to be here when the children (4) get home each day. As a woman I feel that was a gift my husband and I chose to give our children - sure we could have lots more stuff and huge vacations each year - but those would all come at the cost of our childrens childhood!!
Originally Posted By jdub >>I don't blame feminism, but I do think there should be only one wage earner, whether it's a man or a woman, when children are young, thereby leaving one parent to watch his/her own child, rather than farming them out to hired help.<< From a personal standpoint as a parent--AND as a former child remembering back--I agree wholeheartedly.
Originally Posted By SFH I have a Registered Nurse whose experience is in Pediatrics and Neonatal Intensive Care taking care my 6-month old daughter almost 24/7. I don't even pay her, but I do cover her expenses. On top of that, she quite often cooks me dinner and does my laundry. That's because I was smart enough to marry her and have her be the mother of my child. I'm blessed. SFH
Originally Posted By sherrytodd I work full time, but I work from home. I schedule my appointments while my son is in school and then spend the afternoons with him. Then after he goes to bed, I'll often have to get out the laptop and get a little more work done.
Originally Posted By grrrrcat Hot potatoes! What a subject! This is fantastic stuff to read! Doesn't someone always have to go way far over to one side to get everybody to the middle? I hate not wearing a bra, but I love to bend metal and weld things, I love staying home with my kids and feel so blessed- but I'm sure happy that my best friend went back to work to use her formidable organizing skills and stopped micro managing her kids and mine. Oh- and my father-in-law, never changed a diaper- but my husband- thousands of diapers under his belt. He's totally bonded with his babies too, who are now working on being 6 feet tall. We have to have those brave souls who are willing to risk everything on their opinion and convictions to create change. It's not the feminist who have destroyed the economy, it's the apathy of our society, the feeling of powerlessness, this is demonstrated by the lack of people who vote. 64% in 2004, and less in years that a president isn't running. <<a href="http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/voting.html>" target="_blank">http://www.census.gov/populati on/www/socdemo/voting.html></a>. We are 40% a society floating/sinking along without responsability or choice, victims of this or that, resulting in children without healthcare, sustenance and education that would teach them to care about themselves and others and their rights. And meanwhile, feeling angry, scared and powerless, others of us flounder in judgement and blame, loosing sight of the beauty and love and the blessings that we have to share. We are hobbled by fear and anger, blindly eating, watching t.v. and consuming so we don't have to think or feel. Yeah, I know.... Judgement- judgement-judgement, judgement- just proves I know what I'm talking about grrrrcat-Tam
Originally Posted By wonderingalice Just for the record... Not all women who work and choose not to have children are "feminists." I never wanted children badly enough to push the point to my first husband (who didn't care one way or the other whether we did or not). Mr. Alice didn't have children with his first wife, and there was no way on God's green earth that him and I were going to go for it at 49 and 45 (our ages when we met). I'm perfectly happy with having lived a fairly stress-free life and now have fewer wrinkles to show for it. ;-) Could I have pushed to climb the corporate ladder? Sure. But I'd rather spend time with husband than devote all my *MY* time to the workplace. I just do what I do and look forward to my (and Mr. Alice's) retirement bon-bons.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder My goodness, my wife does have a twin! It's wonderingalice, right down to the red hair!
