How do you feel about stay-at-home parents?

Another reason why I would not become a "stay at home mom" is because I don't want to rely on ANYONE to take care of me (and the kids). By allowing one spouse to work while the other "takes care of the kiddos and the house" you are allowing them (the one bringing home a paycheck) to dictate how you live your life. You might stay on top of the bills, ect, but if you are not bringing home the money, you dont' have a lot of say. You lose control of your own life if you allow someone else to take care of you. Contributing to the household (to me) includes getting a paycheck.

What?!?! That makes no sense to me. I haven't brought home the paycheck in years and I have never once felt like my life was being dictated or loosing control of my life. I have plenty of say in how things go. We are a team, not out to get each other because once of us makes money.

No, you aren't a team. One person makes the money, the other does not.

"Making the money" is not everything there is in life. I "make the money" and hubby takes care of the kiddos. Hence, it's a team effort. Your statement makes you sound selfish and greedy.

If the rider of the bike in the above picture put a hitch on the back of the bike, they they would find they could cut out the middle person (my guess is you are trying to insert housewife). I'm not greedy, I just hate lazy people.

There is NOTHING lazy about being a stay at home parent. For as smart and enlightened as you think you are that is a damned ignorant statement.

I am not going to say that every day is peachy keen because there are definitely HARD days (I homeschool 3 of my 4 and the other one is not old enough yet-he's 2, almost 3) but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I get paid in ways other than $$...I worked outside the home for over 5 years before we had kids and I quit at the end of my pregnancy with my first child. Sure, there are times I'd love to contribute financially but my dh is so great to remind me (and anyone else who phrases it wrong) that I do work.

My job is to save $$ and raise our kids.

BTW, if I ever get the chance to go back to school, I do have other dreams, they're just as important to me as my kids. I would love to be a labor and delivery nurse when my kids grow up.

I feel that Stay-At-Homes should take advantage of the fact that they're home & get involved with new hobbies, learn an instrument, write a book, exercise, dance, learn to draw or paint, etc. They have a lot of time to cultivate some wonderful skills & activities that can make them truly happy, & I feel like they don't take advantage of that as much as they should (or at least, you don't hear about it).

If I became a SAHM (never will, though ) I would DEFINITELY be spending all of that time fulfilling intrinsic motives in my life! I do that now, but I would have much more time for it all as an SAHM.

Wow. This is the funniest thing I've read.... ever.

My kids are 6 and 2... two gorgeous, smart, funny, rowdy little wild things. I didn't even get to PEE alone most of the time without the two year old outside of the door going "Mommy are you peeing? Can I see your butt? Did you go PEE??"..... yes, I have so much time during the day to pen the next great American novel because someone isn't signing a paycheck. I'm not sure where you think "all of that time" comes from, exactly. It doesn't exist.

To all of you who think that SAHMoms are living off of their husbands, or that the money is the driving force in a household, I implore you to consider....don't you think that it is infinitely important to raise intelligent, confident, well-adjusted, happy people?

We lived for aeons without technology, electricity, phones, cars, etc. We could do it again if we had to.

High-maintenance, low-character, overly entitled and ungrateful people like you are the problem. Families who make sacrifices so that someone can be home to raise productive, kind and hardworking offspring are the solution. If you think that the world's problems are going to be solved with money, you are sorely mistaken. Unfortunately, those of us who believe in the value of humanity and family are becoming the minority.

I understand there are circumstances that prevent parents from being at home with their kids, but these are not the desirable situations. They are a necessary sacrifice.

If you don't want to raise your children, why even have them?

No, not trolling, actually saying how I feel about stay at home moms. I'm not crazy about anyone who chooses not to work and to rely on someone else to take care of them.

Okay, enough. We get it. You think SAHM are lazy bums, but you don't have your own kids. You've made your point time and time and time again over and over and over again. Why do you feel like you have the right to bash other people's choices in how they run their family when you don't even have one of your own?