Interesting threads elsewhere
Tertia writes about her impending return to work. She notes that the economics of the SAHM/WOHM choice plays out very differently in South Africa than in the US; because domestic help is so cheap there, it almost never makes financial sense for a middle class parent to stay at home.
Bitch, PhD writes about the economic risks of staying home, especially in the case of divorce. As she notes, these were among the rallying cries of second-wave feminism; she wonders why more women don’t worry about them these days.
March 31st, 2005 at 3:33 pm
Uh, speaking of work, is that YOU in the latest issue of a certain parenting magazine that gets handed out free in pediatrician’s offices? Because I’m just wondering, how many Elizabeth’s with sons named D (age 4) and N (age 1), who live and work in DC, and whose husbands are at home with the kids, are there?
Or did you already cover this elsewhere in the blog?
Anyway, if that’s you, I have this to say: (a) bee-yu-ti-ful family, there, E (esp. the mom) and (b) hee hee, I know the kids’ (and the husband’s!) names. Which goes to show that my son’s pneumonia and the interminable wait in the reception area was good for something.
April 1st, 2005 at 12:13 pm
Thanks for pointing me to So Close. It’s a great read…but I don’t know how she manages all the comments… or if she can. This post you pointed to had 217 comments (!!) when I was there. And most of them were 500-word essays.
April 2nd, 2005 at 8:18 am
Wow, Tertia’s stirred up quite a discussion. I think she’s really touched on some sensitive topics. Thanks for pointing to that post, and the 200+ very thoughtful comments (of which I managed to look at only a handful).
Dr.B’s discussion of financial risk of staying at home is also interesting. I had a discussion with amy on this issue, noting that when I was at home I never even thought about this issue. The very fact we have to think in these terms made me angry, so of course I had to blog it (http://daddychip.blogspot.com/2005/02/getting-mad.html). But what’s clear is that this is an issue of much more concern for women, for all the regular reasons.