Posted by pegasus on February 22, 2005, at 19:11:20
In reply to Single income families...esp. women, pls reply, posted by jay on February 16, 2005, at 16:33:01
I've always been the primary income earner in my marriage, although my husband has also always worked. He just doesn't make much money, and his field is less stable. Sometimes it feels like a lot of pressure, because my job is quite demanding. And my husband has a lot more flexibility, because we could survive on my income alone, but not on his alone. But I also like the feeling of being able to support him, so that he has flexibility and can make the best choices for our family.
Now that I'm pregnant, our plan is for both of us to work half time, and share the child care. So, I'll work mornings, and he'll work afternoons. It'll be a financial sacrifice for us, but probably not much more than what it would cost to have an infant in full time day care.
The beauty is that we'll be completely sharing everything (child care, work, housework), which I love as a concept. I think it's a great example for our child. But not too many people have the luxury or desire to choose this option. Would you choose this, Jay, if you could? Just curious.
I find that a lot of folks really aren't interested in sharing exactly the same roles like that. They'd much rather divvy things up into separate roles, so one person earns money, and the other takes care of the children and housework, or some other division. Keeping in mind that it's a lot harder to care for kids than it is to work most jobs, one could argue that the roles there aren't *equal* because the stay-at-home partner works a lot harder. But they're both contributing significantly to the family.
pegasus
poster:pegasus
thread:458901
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20050215/msgs/461954.html