[quote=6packscaredy]No one really needs to be a multi decade SAHM.[/quote]
Many SAHMs end up caring not only for their own children, but for their grandchildren and parents/in-laws.
Just because people are willing to do it for “free” (with the expectation that they will not be left destitute and abandoned in later years), doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have both social and economic value. Try hiring a full-time nanny (responsible for everything from transportation to school/classes/activities, to doctors’ appts., to caring when children are ill, to homework assistance/teaching, etc.), housekeeper, accountant (many SAHPs manage the finances and investments), personal shopper, and on and on…see how much you’ll spend.
Just for a frame of reference, in our neighborhood, a teenaged kid with no experience and who doesn’t even clean after the kids (or do anything else listed above) will make $15/hr. for three kids. That’s the going rate around here for everyone we’ve talked to.
