On being a stay at home mom: How this could in any way be detrimental to my children or society is beyond me. However, here is an excerpt from an article over at statesman.com which says in a nutshell that it could be.
It is time to have an honest conversation about what is lost when women stay home. In a nation devoted to motherhood and apple pie, what could possibly be wrong with staying home to care for your children?
Several things, I think.
It denies men the chance to be involved fathers. This is a loss for them and a loss for their children. What does it mean when fathers are denied the opportunity to nurture their kids in ways that are as important as their work? What do the children miss when they don't have fathers changing their diapers, picking them up from school, coaching soccer, making breakfast or dinner and doing homework with them? On both sides, the answer is too much.
Women who stay at home also lose out � they lose a chance to contribute as professionals and community activists. Parenting is an important social contribution. But we need women in medicine, law, education, politics and the arts. It is not selfish to want to give your talents to the broader community � it is an important part of citizenship to do so, and it is something we should expect of everyone.
Full-time mothering is also bad for children. It teaches them that the world is divided by gender. This sends the wrong message to our sons and daughters. I do not want our girls to grow up thinking they must marry and have children to be successful, or that you can only be a good mother if you give up your work.
Nor do I want boys to think that caring for families is women's work and making money is men's work. Our sons and daughters should grow up thinking that raising and providing for a family is a joint enterprise among all the adults in the family.
The new stay-at-home motherhood movement parallels the movement to create the "perfect" child. It's not just that mothers are home with their children; they are engaged with their children constantly so they will "develop" properly. Many middle-class parents demand too much of their children. We enroll them in soccer, religious classes, dance, art, piano, French lessons, etc., placing them on the quest for continuous self-improvement.
Many of these youngsters end up stressed out. Children should think it is all right to just hang out and be kids sometimes. They should learn that parents have interests separate from their lives as parents. And we should all learn that mothers are not fully responsible for who their children become � so are fathers, neighbors, friends, the extended family and children themselves.
Finally, the stay-at-home mother movement is bad for society. It tells employers that women who marry and have children are at risk of withdrawing from their careers, and that men who marry and have children will remain fully focused on their careers, regardless of family demands. Both lessons reinforce sex discrimination.
This movement also privileges certain kinds of families, making it harder for others. The more stay-at-home mothers there are, the more schools and libraries will neglect the needs of working parents, and the more professional mothers, single mothers, working-class mothers and lesbian mothers will feel judged for their failure to be in a traditional family and stay home their children.
By creating an expectation that mothers could and should stay home, we lose sight of the fact that most parents do work � and that they need affordable, high quality child care, after-school enrichment programs and family leave policies that allow mothers and fathers to nurture their children without giving up work.
Level 3 sex offenders: Any of you that are actually opposed to having your picture and address information posted online can go to hell. As far as I am concerned, you lost all rights to privacy when you violated someone elses.
Rsing costs of school lunches: My solution to this? Take and extra five minutes at night or in the morning and pack your kid's lunch. Kill two birds with one stone: save some dough and ensure that they have a healthy well balanced meal.
I believe in ghosts, aliens and the sixth sense. I have experienced a real life ghost story which I will post here at some point, and, while I believed before this experience, it sure help to confirm what I already knew. I find it very hard to imagine that we are "alone." I don't have any real basis for this, I just can't believe that there aren't other planets with some sort of lifeform. As far as the sixth sense is concerned, I believe it exists because I sometimes think I have it. I have had way two many experiences to chaulk up to coincidence.
I believe that there is a "higher power" of some sort. I was raised a Roman Catholic but tend to disagree with the rules the church sets forward. I think that sometimes I believe in a higher power, just to have "something" to believe in. I go back and forth with this all of the time.
I believe in the separation of church and state. I do not think that the words "under God" should be in the Pledge, nor do I think that "In God We Trust" should be printed on U. S. Currency. Not everyone believes in God, not everyone believes in the same god, so it just isn't right.
I would never have an abortion but I do believe it is a woman's choice. I do not know how I feel about a father's rights. Yes it is his child, but it's her body that carries the baby. Tough call for me on that one.
I am all for gay marriage. I don't think that marriage should be considered a religious insititution either. If two people love each other and want to marry, then they should be able to, and should be afforded all benefits that come with it. I also don't think you can "become" gay. You either are or you aren't and either way, you shouldn't be judged.
I believe that cutting education funding is not only wrong, but should be criminal. Foreign languages, music, art and the ususal things first to go are just as important as History, Science, English etc. The children are the future. Mostly because of the outside influences that children are presented with when sent to a public school, I have often considered homeschooling. I have also thought about sending my children here. I believe that teachers, students and most importantly parents should be held accountable for the education of the children...regardless of what schooling situation the child is in.
I believe in patient and tolerant parenting. I believe that a child has needs, as does a parent and both sets of needs should be met. I believe in a relationship-centered, nurturing type of parenting style. I do not believe in any type of physical punishment at all, ever, in any circumstance. Yelling is not necessary(except for safety reasons..."DON'T TOUCH THE STOVE!"). I feel that children learn more from a calm and patient approach to inappropriate behavior then from a yelling, "my way or the highway" approach. Children need to understand that their behavior may be inappropriate, and parents need to work with their children to find ways to prevent it from happening again. A firm and definite set of rules should be in place, but enforced in a way that is calm and reasonable. Expectations should also be reasonable(a 4 year old should not be held to the same expectations of a 7 year old for example).
Most of the time I believe that the war in Iraq was unjustified. I think that this country should spend less time trying to inflict our way of doing things on everyone else. This country has it's fair share of problems. How about spending millions of dollars here? I'm just sayin'.
I am registered as an independent, or whatever it is called now. I tend to vote Democrat, but am willing to vote a candidate in another party should he or she fit my description of what I think regarding how this country should be run. Changing times and various situations change how I feel daily though, so this type of decision isn't something I can firmly stick to. To sum it up, if I like you and what you stand for you have my vote, no matter what party you are affiliated with.
So yeah, that's about all I can think of now...as if it wasn't enough. If I think of something else to add though, you can be assured that I will.
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