if I'm totally fed up of people assuming SAHMs are rich and idle?

[bohemianbint]

I am one, because I CAN'T AFFORD TO PUT TWO CHILDREN INTO CHILDCARE.

I did initially go back to work, but got shafted by my boss and am about to take him to court. We are not minted and I don't spend my time watching tv, eating bicuits and buying handbags. More's the pity. I will go back to work my my children are older, for definite, but for now, I'm stuck, whether I like it or not.

I find it hard to believe I'm the only person who can't actually afford to work?

pass the popcorn.....

I stayed at home when my 3 were younger, although I still fitted in some voluntary work. Now they are all in school, I do voluntary work 3 days a week and a small paid job for a few hours a week. My time is very full, even if I am not paid for what I do. However, I am there when the children are sick, have Baker days, are on holiday, etc.

I could not afford childcare for 3 children during the holidays.

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I gav up ork because of the cost of childcare as well, but have found that I also love(most of the time) being the person who s bringing my children up.

I want to be rich and idle.

same here BB. I have just gone back to work part-time, as my youngest is about the start school, but there's no way i would've worked with 2 or 3 of them at home (and I have a fairly well paid job).

I know it's been done to death, but it seems to be getting done a bit more this morning and it really gets on my wick!

speaking for myself I think I am idle but that doesn't help you, does it bohemian?!

However I am not rich

What annoys me is that you are labelled as one or the other, when in reality, your situation changes over time. eg i was SAHM, but now i'm WOHM, but in reality I am just as available as I ever was for my DC because i pick them up from school everyday.

I may be slightly idle in that I don't iron things or polish brass, or the like... But I think that's another thread again.

don't like the sound of that thread bohemian

I'm working 30 hrs a week, hate my job but don't change it, at least not yet, because it allows me to pick up DS from school and have some flexibility when his father is away and I need to pick up his responsibilities.

I'm so grateful of being getting tax credits, never mind if most of them will be used for holiday clubs, I feel rich, albeit far from idle...

I am also idle

Unless being paid in cash or love...and no-one has ever done that when I iron

That's why I stopped ironing...

I'm idle. I let the side down I'm afraid!

another one who is idle but not rich unfortunately

when people say to me "You don't work do you?" I say "No - I sit with my feet up all day watching telly"

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Bohemian - I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you dont know... but it's all relative isnt it? Someone earning enough to pay for childcare for two kids and still have money to spare is well off compared to you. But you are well off compared to couples with one child who are both working and having to wait to have a second child because they can't afford childcare fees or to live on one income....
Actually my gut feeling is that we're going to have a generation where this is not an uncommon thing. I have several work colleagues who have one child, and are having to wait until that one is in school to consider having a second, for financial reasons. I'm not saying it's a bad thing.. maybe a bigger age gap than they would ideally like, but that's the way it is.

lol at this thread - rich & idle!!!!!!

I'm so far from rich it's on a different continent...I'm closer to lazy...it's just a bus ride away and I occasionally saunter to the bus-stop for a little visit.

I've done both...SAHM and WOHM and I made my choice for the sake of my sanity (though some would question whether I left the decision a little late!)

Power to the parents (particularly mums) who choose to work. It takes strength, guts and careful planning, but the same applies to SAHMs and we often forget that.

Managing budgets, sorting the domestic stuff, being on call 24/7 to both hubbies and kids and then being pilloried and looked down on by some working mums is enough to drive some of us to the Classifieds! Nearly...

It's an old debate and it's easy to spout catechisms from either side. Like Chequers says...we should all respect each other for the choices we make rather than use them to belittle each other.

Some choose to bf, some to bottle; some do terry nappies, some do disposable; some home school, some use the state, some go private. We're all parents. We all make the decisions we feel are right for ourselves and our children. Some of us work...some of us don't. Whichever choice we make it doesn't say a damned thing about our parenting skills or our potential as human beings.

well, I'm not rich but I can confess to being idle.

That being said I can't really afford to go to work (4kids, 1 in school)and I can't afford to be a 100% sahm (big mortgage). So I work from home doing bits and bobs and always looking for more bits and bobs and trying to start a new enterprise and a community group.

What is irritating though is when the sahm tries to justify their existence by talking about it like its a job etc etc If we try not to compare it with being in employment then it's less laughable.

Xenia, bless her, is the one who promulgates this picture of the rich, idle SAHM, spending hubby's money on beauty treatments, outsourcing nasty chores and unable to even keep her fridge stocked with milk. She does not deliver between the sheets either, because her life is too dull. Thus her alpha-male DH is enticed elsewhere and the poor SAHM is left lonely, unemployable and wishing she had followed Xenia's advice.

She gets to me every time

why are you actually taking the time to justify yourself boho?

your decision to stay at home to care for your children is no ones business but yours.