to give my ukip supporting daily mail reading mil some home truths next time she goes on about benefit scroungers

[milisdrivingmecrazy]

Mil is constantly going on about other people that are coming over here and living on benefits. She's the typical daily mail reading ukip supporter.

She's welcome to her stupid views, however she's never worked, fair enough was from a generation where women didn't. But for over 15 years she's been on a full station pension, had all her rent paid for and most not her council tax paid. Her mum lived until 96 and she keeps saying she'll be come a centurian. That would mean 40 years on benefits - probably well over 500'000k and she's never worked but keeps going on about other people being benefits scroungers!

No problem. You come here and look after my kids, then. And I'll nip out to work.

I'm a sahm too Doragora before you make assumptions. My role in the home is important but I won't pretend I'm contributing to the nations economy,

If someone is looking after the children, the nation has an economy. Look at countries with young populations.

I have no issue at all with MIL being at home while her DC needed her there but they left home 30 years ago and she still claims to have worked hard all her life.

If someone is looking after the children, the nation has an economy. Look at countries with young populations.

I have no idea what you mean. If I got a job, I'd be paying taxes plus paying a childcare provider to look after my DC. I'd be contributing financially to the economy.

It does work both ways though - my MIL is a total lefty who is always going on about 'the rich getting richer' and how 'wealthy people' should contribute more. This is the woman who a couple of years ago worked with her financial advisor to split up all of her money into various places/gifts in order to totally avoid any inheritance tax. Not that I can complain about this, but I am just pointing out that hypocrisy works both ways.

Ageing populations in post industrial nations. Here you go.
www.tandf.net/books/details/9781138803473/

I do think that the SAHM makes a valuable contribution to the economy and to society generally.

It's (often) them who run Brownies, are there to help elderly neighbours, organise school fundraisers and save the country 30 hours of free childcare pw DH will often have earned more (and paid more tax) as a result of the support he's had at home. It's entirely the couple's choice if they can support each other and decide that she doesn't return to work once DC are older but I don't get how she can still claim to have worked hard all her life....

I Have zero problems with anyone who wants to stay at home and raise their children.
What I do have a problem with though t
is the way it seems to be one rule for one and one for the other. Typical example of a a single doesn't work she's seen as unemoyed a bad example and a scrounger. A married of cohabitAting women doesnt work. That's fine, she's a home maker and wholesome.
It makes my blood bloody boil.

Scrounger rhetoric can be just a crude way of trying to articulate the feeling of disappointment you get when you meet somebody who has no interest in contributing to wider society. It's unfair to take but not give, and not only that, humans have great capacity to be creative and innovative, somebody who is choosing to live a life of dependency is choosing not to be all they're capable of being.

A married of cohabitAting women doesnt work. That's fine, she's a home maker and wholesome.

There is a caveat, so long as the couple are not in receipt of any benefits at all, including tax credits.

I can't see how that's to be solved, ilive. It's the arse-all-day problem, isn't it.

I'm paying for you to sit at home on your arse all day.

As long as we keep thinking about arse all day, there's no solution.

My brother votes UKIP and rants on about immigrants taking all the jobs, makes me chuckle, as he does this in front of his Thai bride (who is far too nice for him)

My husbands step mum is exactly like that, she has never worked and actually asked me once how I can be bothered to work....Once when we were there for dinner she moaned about all the 'new' immigrants eg. Eastern Europeans and said that she has read that where they live 50% of the kids in school have at least one foreign born parent! My husband and I just looked at her like seeing that I am foreign born and our kids would fall in that category!

however she's never worked

Presumably she ran a house and brought up her children which is a job isn't it?

That jumped out at me as offensive op just as much as I agree your mil sounds daft.

That's rubbish that she couldn't have done any sort of work.

Poor women have always worked in this country.

My grandmother would be about 100 if alive now, had ten children and still had to graft long hours on the family's farm.

Is this woman still healthy, fit etc?

Maybe she should do some voluntary work etc, to actually contribute something to society!

Happy body-

It doesn't take 40 hours a week to do housework!

Or 40 years to raise children!

Your post is very insulting to all the working mums on here!!!

scrounger rhetoric is just nonsense, which justifies the right wing belief that we should keep what we have away from those who do nothing but want to take it. ie, it's mean and full of assumptions.

Presumably she ran a house and brought up her children which is a job isn't it?

In terms of the individual family, yes its a job.

In terms of the economy, no it is not a job.

In terms of the economy, no it is not a job.

In a post industrialised society, it's a necessary function. So, is volunteering in a soup kitchen. But, that's not an economic job, either.

Good post irretating.

Being a carer is a very valuable role but it's not a job.

You shouldn't use that as a stick to beat her though. Attitudes to work change. Many women of her generation (and younger) never worked, or worked only briefly in casual jobs. My MIL is in her late 60s and she's never done more than short term casual jobs. She had her first child at 18 (catholic family!) and by the time her kids left home, we were in the middle of Thatcher's big recession and there were no jobs, especially for middle aged people with no qualifications or experience.

My experience is that where opinions differ so virulently, it's really just not worth getting into a debate, especially with older people whose opinions may be very fixed. You do of course have the right to refuse to listen to the really nasty stuff, though - just be firm and say it would be best to change the subject.

The distinction between roles and jobs, in a western economy, is a bit stupid.

Dora-

It's perfectly possible and often necessary to do both.

Well, that's similar to my point. In a western economy roles and jobs are interdependent.

My Grandfather had a motto;
"It doesn't matter what you do in life as long as you're a worthwhile citizen."
It is possible to contribute without paid employment.