to honestley wonder, why have children if you WANT to work fulltime and are not prepared to make ANY sacrifices?

[milkgoddessmakesthefinestmilk]

i don't mean parents that HAVE to work to provide.

i mean the ones that choose to for no other reason, other than they enjoy their job so much.
if you enjoy your job so much, thats great.
but what i really do not understand is why have children?
no one makes any of these parents have children, you can go though life without having children.

this is 100% genuine question, i just do not get it.

It's because there's no other way to claim child benefit, and I'm damned if I'm going to work f/t just so that some self-indulgent earth-mother-yummy-mummy can laze around at my expense!

DS is an investment. By the age of 24 I expect him to be implementing the work ethic he learned at his bottle of expressed milk, and be raking in £gazillionk a year as a hedge-fund manager, and buying me the first of my seaside holiday residencies to retire in.

Why don't you just keep on wondering, OP.

Oh - hang on - is it possibly because they like their jobs and also like to have babies?

And while we're at it, can you be honest and say 'mums' not 'parents'. Because that's what you mean isn't it?

Oh, and parp.

I know why I had a child and went back to work full-time!!!!!

Dh wanted a child so I had one and then he went off to work. Sod that for a game of conkers...............

Shit, I have just realised I don't make enough sacrifices to be a good mum.

Would cutting the throat of a cockerel do or do I have to flagellate myself too?

Employers just loooove people who work for a year and then take a year off, work for a year, then take a year off, they really do. They love not knowing how long you'll stay, employers.

Think a goat would be worthier than a cockerel Kathy.

Oh sorry, I have already parped

Am off

so, you are saying that sah is actually a sacrifice OP??

This thread just keeps getting funnier and funnier!

i kinda understand OP.

kids do change your life and those that think otherwise are totally misled by magazines and newspaper editors : the dream work/life balance.

but i also think that children are not a sacrifice, they are a pleasure.

NB i work full-time, but happy as DH looks after the children and therefore they A parent there for them always. Very important issue for me.

sits down with thai chicken soup from a carton, am too busy working to cook ( although it is the school holidays and I have spent the day lounging so that isn't really true!) to watch the entertainment

Kathy - would you like my hair shirt ?

Actually I do wonder this too. I'm not saying working mothers are bad or anything ridiculous like that (I work part time myself) but the 'have it all' mentality that some people have these days does seem sad. Children grow up so quickly and we have such a short time to help them to grow up into good people that I just wouldn't want to miss that chance. When my dc are at school I intend to work more than I do now but at the moment I'm happy to have work on semi-hold until I'm less needed by them.

Message withdrawn

Cmot - if you don't mind getting it back all bloodstained.

Alittleone2 - no, you must chant. The more you hate it the better. That's what parenting's all about.

Because I wanted children but also a life that didnt involve them all the time and will go on to have this life after they have grown up.

Ah, now, see, no need to start bashing SAHPs@franca.

I am the first to stand up for working parents. My mum worked full time, as do most of my friends. For me, though, staying at home is the best option - but it is a sacrifice of sorts. Loss of income. Loss of status. Having to explain to boring twats at dinner parties what I 'do' for a living.

Anyhoo...the OP is clearly on crack, on a bad come down and craving for her next rock, and this is just something to do while she waits for the dealer to knock round...

Do you work full time Hercules?

Yes, sorry not very clear in my post.

I think we have an unrealistic ideal of modern motherhood, at the mo.

motherhood is something to be cherished, not side-lined.

i also think that children are totally undervalued. how often have you heard parents being deorgatory about their own children: "oh yes, he's such a nightmare"...

Message withdrawn

alittleone2, maybe pinging your breasts with some elastic bands would do it. Slapping them doesn't sound painful enough.

Ahem, MrsMattie!
I don't think my AIBU thread about pink shoes was at all dull, thank you very much!

The thing is, even if you believe such a thing, you must know that MN is so not the forum to get 100 posts in agreement with you so why bother? I'm all for freedom of speech but you can't expect not to be jumped on now, can you?

Not everyone cherishes spending every minute of every day with their little ones...

I don't buy into this "have it all mentality" thing, as it's used only to bash women.