FLU I am glad that you expressed what your family is doing think I might have misunderstood if you had not. It is too bad that there are so few part time opportunities for peak performing professionals. Good thing that you are looking at the potential to stagnate or even become obsolete and adjusting accordingly. Very smart.
My wife and I can do what we are doing because we were able to afford to live in a decent place on lowered earnings before we had kids. Trade-off, I am an old dad. It would be easier for families to buy quality time with their kids if lower rent areas with access to employment centers, had better schools, and the neighborhoods were not so “thugged” up. I guess that is why so many blue collar and lower earning white collar people leave California(DUH!). It is why we are in Jamul, which of course has its own problems like any area. Education an the thuggery component seem to be reasonable . There are some dangers, like keeping up with the Joneses, like spoiled rich kids and a few “bad ass” types. Diverse social cliques come with the territory I guess. You get more aware of that in a small town.
I am not incredibly worried about education and much less about sports! That helps, if I felt like the kids had to get top notch schools on my $ that would be a big problem.
We will help them but a modest retirement is our focus too.
I was pretty good at sports but not high on the culture, truth be told. Not that I am saying it is all bad just not something I feel we need to channel the kids into. We are following their leads with some input to make sure they get good opportunities to socialize and have perspectives beyond their main tendencies towards creative and physical aspects which vary greatly by child.If the really liek sports I will help them. My second boy’s favorite movie is “hoop dreams” and when ever we see something pertaining ot the sport he says “I love basketball”.I guess I am raising my kids the way I would have liked to have been raised Sniff sniff..LOL.
Our focus and energy on raising our kids would not change if my wife and I divoriced. I knew that before I married her and her about me. She could tell by how I treated my friends, strangers,old people, my friend’s kids and my 13 y.o. golden retriever. For my part I know it would be very rare for a woman not to care deeply about her kids. My wife would want me to have a quality life and me her. I know that because I know how she treated her first ex- husband with whom we have had dinner and seen socially.
