Wednesday, January 24, 2007

How lucky am I

I am not exactly a stay at home mom, but close to it. I work 2-3 12 hour shifts a month, the rest of the time I get to be a stay at home mom. I am very blessed that my husband makes enough money to allow for this lifestyle. I often think about how society feels that childrearing is an acceptable profession if you are getting paid for it (as is a daycare worker), but is not an acceptable thing if you are not bringing home a paycheck. This thought process also often makes me think about how much is enough. Since I have a very well paying job, my paycheck for my three shifts a month is often close to what a daycare worker working full time would make. Yet, I encounter people who feel that I am somehow a slacker or lazy because I don't put in 40 (or more hours) a week at a paying job. Trust me I put in at least 40 hours a week just trying to keep up with everything that goes on around here. It's sad how little value society puts on raising kids. I would be deeply dissatisfied if my kids spent the majority of their time with someone other than my husband or I.

Many people would probably classify me as a feminist, but I believe that the feminists have done women a disservice. The whole notion that women can bring home the bacon and then fry it up and put it on the table is totally flawed. In their haste to get women into the workplace there was no sharing of the workload. There was no societal shift of a shared burden. Women were expected to go to work and then come home and do the same amount of work that they were doing before they got jobs. This is bs! If women are to work outside of the home then men need to pick up the slack. Heck raising kids is exhausting enough that even if women don't have a paying job, men need to help out. This is my opinion, if you don't agree then you are entitled to your opinion, but this post has been in my head for a while and I finally decided to sit down and write it out.

Some new pictures




Here are some more pictures from our trip to Williams. This is little boy's first time playing in the snow. We are such warm weather people that I had to borrow the coat, hat and gloves from a friend. The hat that little girl is wearing was made by an Aunt of mine, she also has a blanket to match. I love this hat and keep it in the car so that I can put it on her when we go out.