[quote=svelte]
I think that’s a perfectly reasonable approach to life. One parent staying home until the youngest is in preschool or 1st grade.
We have friends married to each other who were both execs in this town for companies you all know and love. They decided he would stay home the first few years (she made way more) and then return to work part time, which he has. Worked out very well for them.
Was thinking the other day about the disagreement on “most” women seeking out men to support the family. I think maybe it all has to do with what folks think the question is that determines the answer.
If it were rephrased “are you looking for a spouse to support you entirely, without you working, through your life” I think the “yes” percent would be low for both men and women. (most women in the US work)
If the question were “are you looking for a spouse to HELP support the family, with you working when it makes sense” I think the “yes” percent would be high.
Hell, I would have answered “no” to the first and “yes” to the second…and so would my wife.[/quote]
This is where things get interesting. When you say that one spouse is relying on another spouse supporting them entirely, you’re suggesting that the SAH spouse isn’t *also* contributing to the household.
I’ve shown earlier on this thread how many women are working for a negative income (and that’s working full-time!), especially if they have young children or if the second income-earner makes a low wage. Still waiting to hear from BG about her findings…
And even if the second income-earner is making *some* money after paying all the expenses related to working outside of the home, is it $500/month, $1,500/month, or $2,000/month? And is it worth the extra stress and strain on the marriage and family relationship? In a family where the primary earner has irregular days/hours (like salespeople who travel at least two weeks/month, for instance), is it better if they have a parent available to both that spouse and the children whenever it works best for them? There is no right or wrong answer here, it depends entirely on the beliefs and desires of the individual families.
You can also look at the links that show how the monetary value of a SAH spouse’s contributions can be calculated.
Again, these numbers will fluctuate depending on the opportunity costs and contributions provided by the SAH spouses (a parent who is a nurse who can care for a child with a severe illness, a teacher who can work with a learning disabled child, someone from the financial industry who can make more money by managing the family’s investments him/herself, etc.). It will depend on the larger, and local, economies, too, depending on the field a parent is in, or whether it would cost more to hire someone from the outside to fulfill these tasks. And the value received by the family will fluctuate over time within any given family depending on how many children are in the house, how old the children are, whether or not they are helping to care for elderly parents or other relatives, and how the parents value having a parent watch over the kids vs someone hired from the outside.
As for the majority of households with children having both parents working outside of the home, it is a majority, but not a large majority. And this includes people who work PT.
The share of married-couple families with children
where both parents worked was 59.1 percent.
