Lots of people here seem to think it is more worthwhile to pay somebody else to raise your children whilst you go out to work somewhere else. Just shows really how materialistic our society has become...
There’s an assumption that if a family has both parents working, it must be because they’re materialistic/want the latest gadgets/biggest and best of everything.
When I was a teenager, my dad said to me, “Never rely on anybody else to support you financially; not your mother and me, not some man, and certainly not the government.” My parents had four of us, and never once has any of us ever run to Mommy and Daddy with our hands outstretched because we got into financial trouble and couldn’t pay the rent, or needed them to co-sign a loan application. We have always been able to fend for ourselves.
A job is an insurance policy. Men usually pass away before their wives. Fifty percent of marriages will end in divorce. As a woman, the odds are against me. If my husband loses his job, asks for a divorce, or dies, all the hugs and kisses in the world won’t matter if I couldn’t take care of my children financially. Someone needs to earn money so a family can live, and placing that financial burden solely on one person is risky.
Also, people are living longer. My grandmother lived to 103. I don’t want to outlive my money and become a financial burden to my adult children, when they will have their own children and spouses and mortgages and jobs and bills and retirements to worry about. When they are in their forties and fifties and juggling their own families and responsibilities, they won’t care how many diapers I changed or how many scraped knees I did or didn’t bandage when they were little. The best gift I can give my adult children is staying healthy and financially secure.
No doubt that some people are working for fancy gadgets and nice cars. Good for them. But if they’re smart, they’re thinking about their futures, also.