Stay-at-Home Mothers on the Rise

Don't see too many wives that don't have a job these days.

Those that don't work seem to have young and multiple children, and the cost of childcare is very significant.

Of course every now and then you do see Mrs. "I don't work 'cause my man is loaded".

This phenomenon certainly makes the unemployment figures appear to be lower.

My wife "stayed at home" for several years with our young children and now just works part time. I pull in several times more per unit time than she does but even then, there is a substantial loss in ones buying power if a spouse "stays home". Anyway, it is survivable and the worst of it is that we have to be as frugal as our parents generation were. That's not so tough. Just stay the hell out of useless crazy debt and you will be okay.

It would be nice to see even more stay home moms yet. It makes a tremendous difference to the kids in so many ways. I volunteered full time in my sons school when I was a stay home mom, and you could tell within minutes which kids had a parent at home, and which ones came from working parents. Not to criticize those who do work, but the impact it has on the kids, really isn't worth the monetary gain. Especially in the first 6-10 years.

Sadly, far too many parents work for a bunch of crap they don't need. Name brand clothes for kindergarten kids, $60,000 SUV's for mom to drive the kids to the 10 activities they're each in, the semi-annual vacation to Hawaii that they just "need" to have.... horseshit. It's all a bunch of frivolous nonsense because people seem to think that's what represents "good parenting". It's a joke. Sadly, it's a very widespread one.

My kids didn't have all of the name brand hoodies and shoes coming from a one income family, but they had all of the necessities, AND they always had a mom who had time for them. As they got older, they appreciated that more and more. They realized that walking through an unlocked door and having someone to greet them, help with their homework and maybe some fresh cookies out of the oven, were far more important than having a bunch of material objects, that they can't use anyway, because they're at a babysitters. And - they could have friends over. We probably had the least (materially) than anyone, but we had all the kids over every day after school because Mom was home, and (me being the softy I was) there were always fresh baked snacks on the table for them. It's a trade off. It's one I don't regret, and my kids now appreciate a lot. I hope they remember that when they reach that phase of life.

**Before anyone jumps me - yes, I do know very well that there ARE some families that simply have no choice but to have both parents working just to scrape by and provide themselves with the basics. I completely respect that, and know that they're doing the best they can with what they have.

Agree, except it would be just as nice if dad stayed home instead, as is more often the case these days.

And what are the basics? Is buying a house to raise your family an extravagance? In the Vancouver area, it's the rare couple that can buy a house on one income. Just had a story in the paper of the 3 houses in Vancouver still for sale below 600k - everything else available is well north of that, and prices are only going up. YOu have to move well out of town before you see a real price drop, which means you spend a lot of your day commuting.

Agree, except it would be just as nice if dad stayed home instead, as is more often the case these days.


8 times out of 10, dad makes more (a slightly different issue). The couple next door to me have that very arrangement. They are lucky that she earns a near six figure salary. What a luxury. I wish that I could have done that but it is a rare conjunction that has a far better paid female spouse.

That ratio is declining. Especially for the younger ones, ie the ones likely to have kids. More women than men are graduating uni, women on the whole seem more driven to succeed these days. Also the depression devastated traditional high paying male jobs far more than female ones.

It's simply cheaper to stay at home and raise your kids yourself than work, commute and pay someone else to take care of them during your 10 hours away from home.

Daycare $, etc. take up any advantage that you think you might have by staying in the work force while bearing children.

I'm a stay at home mom but I like working once in a while just to get some money of my own.