Nobody said the country was going to hell because women work. As I specifically noted there are individual life stories like Red's that are successful. However just as Red noted indiviual stories don't make the whole story. Statistics measured over time do paint the more accurate picture. As far as I know there has been no study to measure the pluses and minuses of women being added to the workforce. However to state that there were only good effects and had no negative aspects is idiotic and/or willfully blind. There is no doubt that women coming into the previously male only sectors of the workforce increased supply. Did it contribute somewhat to the trend to lower or stagnent wages? I would suspect so(you know ...supply & demand). If accurate does that mean I think the last 40+ years should be reversed? NO!!! and GIVE ME A BREAK to make that charge is asinine. There have been studies since the 1950's on the trend to single parent families and the destructive effect on children and society. This has been confirmed time and time again, starting with Pat Moyinahan's efforts before he was Sec of Health and US Senator. Single parent families hurt male chldren when the father isn't present to show adult behavior. I have friends and customers who are professional african american women who have given up hope of marrying an AA man with equal education and standing. I speculate that the flow of women into the workforce has increased the trend to single parent families and these problems. The fact that women are liberated is great...I married a lawyer and am dating a movie producer...aand I think we are better for it as we are with equality in race and immigration. However not to acknowledge the possible unintended consequences and by seeing them overcome them is sticking ones head in the sand.
"I KNOW the loosing moms at home is part of what destroyed this country. -- Halloween Run Then you have not looked! There are many and they go back to World War II. Single parent families is another problem entirely and unrelated to working moms. No one has done that! People have pointed out that Halloweenrun's experience is not typical. He is not "100 right".
"because people like halloween and onelsufan are incredibly stupid on this topic and have the balls to say they are 100% because of their life experience permeates to the rest of the nation. Seriously thats how they feel. Guess what my wife works my son is with his grandmother and some other programs for kids and is smart as a whip." Whoever the inbred was that posted this, you validated my point. Thank you! My point was not a dis at working mothers. My point is the benefit of nurturing one on one 24 x7 vs 5 to 8pm. If your kids benefit greatly from your wife (mother of the year is fine) for four hours a day, do you really not see how they would benefit more, with her mentoring them all day long. Oh, if that don't work, try teaching school awhile and see the difference between moms that are active with their children (who have time) and those that do not even respond because they are too whupped at the end of the day. I like talking football with most of you, but really, on issues other than football, some of you need to turn up the voltage in that chandelier just a bit! You guys should not feel guilty because you are dual income, many come across as defensive, and you do not need to be. Hell, we are too, I hate it, but I want more and more! But I am intelligent enuf to know, through observation, that our lives and those of our children would be, and would have been, "better" if my wife had not joined the workforce. Look in the mirror.
Halloween, some of your points may be valid but I think the answer to your personal situation has nothing to do with your wife joining the workforce. It has more to do with the grandparents that let your young daughter watch Cops all day. My parents would have never allowed my young kids to watch shows like that. If they would have allowed it, we would have found better alternatives for the kids.
you havent made a point, you said that this helped the country go to hell and you are wrong. Who is to say a child benefits more from 24x7 nurturing than in an environment with other kids. Many kids that are homeschooled have plenty of social and anxiety problems, that cause major damage to themselves and others. your point is no more relevant than anybody else with an asshole, cause thats what its worth. Your observation has zero to do with another persons' reality.
wages vs overall economic growth is a straw man. give me a break, we are the greatest country on earth and women helped us get to that with the extra productivity that was created when they went to work. yes it is asinine.
As the only working mom, thus far, on this thread, I'll weigh in on it. Sometimes, being a working mom is absolutely gut-wrenching. There is a guilt that we are made to feel about leaving our children, a guilt placed on us by society and by ourselves. That being said, in order to live the way we choose to live and in order to provide our daughters with a college education, I have worked the whole time I've been a mom (11 years and counting at this point.) I've often wondered how I would feel, though, if I pay for my daughters' college educations, only to watch them not use the educations by becoming stay-at-home moms. Every stay-at-home mom I know (personally) in Plano is a college grad. They don't use their educations, and the ones that have tried to go back into the workforce after their kids are in school have struggled to re-enter it after being gone for a number of years. I think it would've been hard to return to work if I had taken time off. Because I'm a teacher, I almost get the best of both worlds. I work while my girls are in school and have summers and other vacations off with them. The stay-at-home moms sure do bitch about those vacations. And I can definitely imagine why. After the kids are in school, staying at home gets much more relaxing--unless the kids are not in school. On the other hand, I have to take off work to attend parent-teacher conferences and/or assemblies in which my kids perform. But the older they get, the more I get to do. I'm chaperoning my middle schooler's band trip to Medieval Times next Friday night. I took off three days of work last school year to attend 5th grade camp with her and her friends. Being a mom is a full-time job, and I have another full-time job. Both are rewarding in their own rights. My mom worked all but two years when I was growing up. Her mom before her (born in 1909) was a college grad and worked most of the time, as well. It's a natural part of my experience, though there are certainly times I wish I didn't work. But then I realize that my career is important to me, as will be my nice retirement for which I'm eligible in another 14 years. When my girls were babies, they stayed with a wonderful woman who ran a home daycare. We had a child with her for 6 years total, and she became like a member of the family. The preschool they attended was also wonderful; they both still have close friends they met there. Did I hate to leave them? There was certainly a twinge most mornings, but on the other hand, I felt good about the places I left them and knowing that I was helping to provide for them and for the family, as a whole.
