Who raises our kids?

[pritchke]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: .....considering we now live in a world where you need two jobs (unless one is a top-5% wage job) to support a family at all, especially with kids. ..........

This is an offshoot from "Looks like another shift to the right!" Timber Loftis statement is the sad reality of today's society. I think part of the problem with today's kids is that both parents are required to work and our kids are left in the hands of others even total strangers. I think it is actually beneficial for kids to have at least one parent stay home with them until the age of 4 or 5 when they start school. However today that is exceedingly difficult for most.

TL's statement is also a load of Hooey too. I can take you to several towns where people are living on one income and the mother stays home with the kids is the rule and not the exception and none of them are earning over $30,000 a year. TL is just too used ot the urban life [img]smile.gif[/img]

Now that being said, there are a lot of people who are living with two incomes...who could if willing to give up "wants" could live on one income and have a parent raise the kids untill they are in school. In the US a lot of the time its more about "wants" than needs...desires over necessity. My kids live in one such town....I drive though dozens of similar towns to go see them.

Many folks who have two jobs just end up spending the bulk of the second income on day care and babysitters. It may not be as easy as it was for our parents to do this, but it can be done and you don't have to be in the top 5% income bracket.

[ 05-20-2003, 02:14 PM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

[FelixJaeger]

I agree that it is total phooey as well, and as for who raises our kids, round here we do, if you need two jobs to look after your children then you dont have money to pay for a babysitter...so we learn to look after ourselves...as were not toally stupid...and by the way I dont mean now im 15 ive been doing it for a while so nerrr [img]tongue.gif[/img] ...

[WillowIX]

Originally posted by MagiK: *snip* In the US a lot of the time its more about "wants" than needs...desires over necessity. My kids live in one such town....I drive though dozens of similar towns to go see them. Many folks who have two jobs just end up spending the bulk of the second income on day care and babysitters. It may not be as easy as it was for our parents to do this, but it can be done and you don't have to be in the top 5% income bracket.

I completely agree with MagiK. It seems most people are able to raise their children, with either one or two incomes. You adapt to the circumstances. But there is always the exception of the rule. Some people have no idea how much it takes/costs to raise a child. Both I and my husband work fulltime and Jackie turned out fine. We do have a babysitter in my little sister who loves to babysit for us. She gets extra money and she gets to spend the weekend in Toronto. My old hospital also had its own daycare center so there were no problems with Jackie. And since my neighbor still works at that hospital she will give Josh a ride every day when he is used to the idea. As I said, with a little planning and a little negotiating raising a child shouldn't be a problem (referring to this thread).

For those planning to have a child it is always good to find out more about it. There are several places to get this knowledge, ie how to cope financially etc.