[quote=CA renter]
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.
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Every family’s situation is different, and every family will have to decide what works best for them. The point, of course, is that they should actually run the numbers to see what the second income-earner is *really* making, and then decide if that is worth all of the additional stress and strain on the marriage and family. For some, having a SAHP will be the best decision; for others, having both parents in the paid workforce will suit them better. There is no right or wrong here.
