Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social aspects that directly effects Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details.
Like this is a trend...
Sounds about like Victorian England or the America before the civil war...
I am a Gen-Xer. I stay at home and I cook, clean, and gladly raise our daughter. My husband appreciates the home cooked dinners on the table after a long day at work. It actually makes me feel more like a productive woman than when I worked as a counselor. To each his own I suppose. :)
At first glance this article makes me very angry, it makes it sound like women just want to be mooches. After some thought I think you are right about the "sour grapes" wrath being written here. I agree that more women want to stay at home, but they want the satisfaction of fullfilling the role of running the house and being a mother.
I say we need more stay at home moms! In my opinion it is key for a great relationship. When quality time can be spent as a family, instead of managing the stress, the relationship is stronger!
Thanks for the ping, qam.
You are right about "sour grapes". The Feminists wanted their equality and jobs, etc...plopping their kids in daycare after six weeks' maternity leave so they could "self-actualize". Talk about selfish!
Now their daughters want to actually raise their own children by staying home and taking care of their families and they are GREEN with envy!
I don't have kids...yet...my husband and I have spent the last five years living overseas and we didn't think it appropriate to have children living where we were living. I'm back now but he is still there to wrap things up. I left early because it became too dangerous. I didn't work while we lived there, but I do freelance a little to earn some extra money. I fully intend to stay home and raise my kids when we have them. And I don't have any problem with hiring help around the house if one can afford it, either!
Oh, come on! What tiny percentage of families can afford a nanny, a cleaning service, and all the activities and accessories of a social-ornament wife? Maybe there are just enough to make it worthwhile advertising at these big-spending ladies, and the husbands who CHOOSE to finance this kind of lifestyle.
I know lots of homeschooling families with 5-10 kids, one income. I think all our husbands would be happy if we could afford more help, so that they didn't find their wives exhausted, sweaty, and ready to drink cleaning solvents at the end of the day.
Yes, I'm exaggerating a bit (about the cleaning solvents; my poison of choice is pink wine in a box,) but I think many husbands would be happy to pay a little money (if they had any, after groceries) if it meant their wives would have a little energy left for *them*.
Who cares what the Brits are doing?
This Bud's for you.
My wife stays home, and she works twice as hard as I do.
I know of a number of "stay at home moms" who are like those described in the story. I was born at the very tail end of Gen X. These women I know in real life tend to be in their late 20s or 30s, married to men approximately twice their age. In the younger couples I know, either both parents work or mom's full time job is to be a true housewife and mother.
The original feminists wanted for women to be able to have choices in life. There are serious differences between original feminist ideals and the man-hating feminazi bull that is masquerading for feminism these days.
Realistically, I know I'll never be a stay at home wife and mother - I have no desire to do so. I'm not saying that being a full time caregiver is NOT meaningful, because it absolutely is - it's just not going to be the right choice for me and my husband-to-be. I grew up in a two-parent home where mom and dad worked, and daycare and being cared for by family members didn't maim me too terribly. :-)
Conservatives should stop proclaiming that any woman who wishes to have a career and a family is some psycho feminazi...we're not. Shockingly, some conservative women are working mothers, and are usually pretty good at balancing both from what I've seen.
Okay, this article hits home. I'm not Generation X but I'm close.
Ever since I was a small child, it was always my dream to marry and be a housewife. Maybe some call that unambitious or exploitative. But I always wanted to cook and bake all day, manage the finances, basically, to run a home. I think I'd be really good at it. I've never wanted to do anything else.
Yet at the same time, I've never really wanted to have children. Just never felt much of a connection to them. I am not permanently opposed to the idea, however.
I'm also very religious and conservative.
Does this make me a user? If I find a man who wants a traditional woman like me, one who doesn't work outside of the home, do people think there is something wrong with that? I'm not lazy, I'm a very hard worker. It's just always been my dream to do my work by maintaining our home.
BTW, of course if I have to work outside of the home to build our finances, I will. But ultimately, my dream is to be a housewife.
Baby boomer mums pioneered the tradition. The GenX princesses are simply doing what they have been taught.
I admit I am horrid at housework. I homeschool, so have four children home all day. Even if things look decent in the morning four small tornadoes hit right after lunch. I'm not talking about small messes either. When I complain about it someone will say, "If you sent your kids to school, you'd have more time for housework." Never mind that it's the two youngest who cause most of the trouble. LOL!
I was born in '71. I stay home with two preschoolers and one on the way. I hate it. For some reason it's difficult to discover one's sense of 'self-worth' doing this. My husband works all the time and we don't go anywhere or do anything except stay home. Before I had children, we would occasionally take trips, go shopping, and go out to eat because I was earning a good income and felt that I had some say in the matter.
I have other Mom friends, but they want to sic their kids on me whenever they get the chance. I feel burned out of being around little kids.
Jane Austen is my favorite author. Or was, when I had time to read books. She never married and felt that that sort of life was drudgery. I suppose it was even more so, before one could even read Free Republic :-)
My mother insists that she worked harder staying at home doing petty chores than my dad worked for 30 years in a 110 degree factory.
The catch is, my mother didn't really do all that much around the house. From my observations, most housewives don't.
Completely cleaning an average sized house takes all of what, 3 or 4 hours? Also, the house is completely cleaned every single day? Yeah right.
And this notion of "taking care of kids", what exactly does that involve? Sitting them in front of the TV while "princess" chit chats on the phone all afternoon?
On your next day off go visit your local mall, shopping center, mall, Wal- Mart, mall, or any other store (mall) during the day. Take a good look around. You'll be amazed at how many housewifes are doing "back-breaking work" at the mall during the day.
I'm sure the Freeper Feminist Hit Squad will show up on this thread and flame me.
uh oh, I ain't touching this one.
Read later.
Obviously, this author has never spent the entire day with one or two small children.
Both Mrs. Cut and myself are Gen-Xers. After we married, we both worked, and we both made about the same. She loved her job and the people she worked with; and loved being able to contribute to our household finances. The money enabled us to save, invest, purchase a home, and generally have some fun as "DINKs" (dual income, no kids). When she became pregnant, she had planned on taking the six weeks' leave and going the day care route thereafter. I was worried about that, but she convinced me otherwise; the facility was top-notch (read: expensive) and located in the building she worked in, so I reluctantly agreed. In theory, it was a sound idea.
All that changed about five seconds after Short Cut came into this world ten months ago. We looked at him, so small and helpless and full of need and love, and then at each other. We didn't even speak; we both just KNEW...
She resigned from her job. We cancelled the day care arrangements, and she is now a stay-at-home, fulltime Mom. She has NO regrets and neither do I. We've cut WAY down on expenses and toys, and still we manage to save a bit. Short Cut is a healthy, happy, and loved little boy who always smiles and laughs.
The reality was, we just couldn't bring ourselves to leave him with strangers, for any length of time or reason. I think that we made the right choice.
Oh good grief. Men who don't want that kind of setup can just not marry women who have that expectation .... or they can divorce them if they don't like it. We don't need yet another new class of victim.