CArenter,
Many people feel liberated by a divorce….again ….your money means too much to you and you have to frame things that way. I know a woman, was a stay at home mom ..became a single working mom, lost the house, had not too much help from the father, worked at very low wages and was very liberated.
I am sorry Carenter, you are so nice..and that’s appreciated. However, on this you have and obvious chip on your shoulder and come across as unsympathetic to men. Do you consider single working parents or struggling dual income families before you get on the pity pot? People like us are way up there in the have it made zone..not the top but c’mon.
No way shape or form is typical stay at home parenting as hard as a full time career, from blue collar to king of the world. Are there hardships along the way, Yes, probably in most cases.
Imagine how this sounds, stay at home mom to working stiff, “you better make a living and do it in such a way that we never have to move somewhere I don’t want to go”. I want to stay at home and have you keep my career possibiilties intact locally and ….all my friendships that I have time and social energy for since I am staying at home and not facing a lot of cut throat assholes everyday….and don’t mess up my blogging time either. BTW, I am a huge victim and you are a pig if we have to move.
Besides that, aren’t you supposed to have worked that out before you got married? Caveat emptor.
Like I said, the only thing you can make a case on is home schooling….that’s it.
Typical Stay at home day with 7, 9,11, y.o
6:45 , get your asses out of bed you know what to do. I clean a little around them make a couple or sandwhiches.
8;15 last drop off,
Almost 6 hours to do pretty much whatever I want.
2:00 Starting rounding up kids. Take them swimming( I swim too!), to the library( I surf the internet and look at stuff too!) or straight home for Play or , chores, Coach or sit around at practices and chat with the nice neighbors, or go to mommy and me classes…whoa this is really hard.
30 minute work for dinner, 30 minutes work to clean up.
O.K. do your homework ask me if you need any help, review homework etc. ! hour casual work, while doing other things that suit me like tinker with my hobby stuff , share that with my little buddies if they are interested.
O.k. You guys can watch tv, read, play, fight some more, or do minecraft now, don’t hurt each other too badly on a school night.
Brush your teeth and get ready for bed…anyone want a story…I love you guys(it’s an awful painful hard life but I still do)
Night little blogstars.
Fight some more with people on the internet.
Those 3 months when the kids aren’t in school…I get to spend time with my little buds and do even less! 3 day weekends, chill! This is really hard. 3 weeks for Christmas, Spring break, hey guys lets go fishing everyday( how much does mom owe me for covering that?)
Laundry ave. 15 minutes a day and we often use a clothesline.
House cleaning max 2 hours a week not including dishes. More once in a while when guest or coming or things have just gotten out of hand.
Shopping a few hour a week.
Most other elaborate meals baking etc….Optional and in our case often “family time” not work.
Take care of yard and cars… a few hours a week doesn’t begin to put a dent in all the available hours. Many working dads , even peopel doing overtime, do all this stuff on weekends and evenings anyway.
Nothing puts more than a half time dent in the available hours.
Full time working Wife, after work, catch up on work emails (which generally create some work), plan for next day, also watch kids, read to them, stop them from fighting if she is closest…Have a husband to entertain. I am sure it is a lot of work for the poor woman to have to catch up with me and the kids after spending time with hundreds of people all day everyday. I wonder how much she should get paid for her side job at home?
The situation is a lot more fluid than that ,but only an idiot would think my job is as hard as my wifes once she goes full time soon. Thing is she wanted it that way …and I am going to continue to work part time or volunteer because the other thing isn’t enough and I will lose my mind or die of guilt.
