Mumsnet in the Observer!

[thumbwitch]

didn't anyone else notice?
here - discussion about SAHMs and WOHMs.

yes, I read it.

And promptly felt guilty

I loathe WOHM/SAHM articles.

Am a poor role model / waste of education / not bringing home the bacon SAHM

oh no, it wasn't meant to make you feel guilty!
nowt wrong with your choice.

but apparently WOHM are feel they're good role models... ergo....

ah bollocks to that say I.
Each to their own - it's all about individual choice. I have to work at home, much to DS's disgust (age nearly 10mo) but we need the money. I'm happy wth my choice though - and so is DH.

dont know - why wouldn't it be? THere is a good cross-section of mums on here, isn't there?

I am a stay at home mum too, and actually I do feel I have wasted my education, (two Masters )

Why do I need the degrees when all I do is talk rubbiah all day to a 22 moth old? !!

I want to go back to work...but I want to stay at home too!!

Do we not value education for its own sake any more then - is it just useful as an employment tool?

The amount of emetophobes

"They add that they do not feel discriminated against, with the majority believing their employment and promotion opportunities were just as bright as before they had children."

Really? And I thought MNetters were an intelligent lot.

Anyone who thinks that is deluded, sadly

lol policywonk

Yes, but there are oooooodles of Mumsnetters. You see more HBs (etc.) here than you do in RL, but then you also see far more people here than you would in RL.

Good point, Policywonk....

I was just sitting here thinking the same thing. I am glad I spent the time in education and you are right, education for its own sake is important...

Today is one of those days when I feel like an old grey wrinkley and on such days I like to imagine my parallel life.. (where I wear lovely clothes and have sparkling chat with other grown ups in a clean and inspiring environment )

"However, more than 70 per cent of working mothers said they had no time for themselves and almost 90 per cent said they spent little time alone with their partner. Most women think that working is good for them and their families."

how can it be good for you if you have no time for yourself or your partner

this just sounds like complete delusion

i am doing this therefore i am happy....i am not pretending no im not

and thank god everyone else is happy too

(although the Mumsnet demographic is skewed, or at least was according to the last MN census -- IIRC 2/3 were educated to degree level)

I am happy as a SAHM. My choice. Don't care what others do, or what they think of me. End of.

Agree with Port and Lemon. Also it's interesting because it's women saying can we not have the old you must feel guilty for working line, can we move this on to saying 'I feel fine for working, but things still aren't great because I'm tired and I haven't got the balance right.'

That seems a valuable conversation, when everyone is always focussing on the guilt. The 70s feminists knew it was all about the housework.

Well, I went to a beauty pagent a few weeks back and the contestant who won answered the question of why is education to women important? (the pagent was to encourage women in Africa to value education). She said "An educated mother is an educated home" - I loved that answer and so did the judges.
So your education is not wasted!

and was this a proper survey or one of the win a wekend away surveys and just tick any old cobblers

is it part of this big home front debate

and how were people selected or is it self selection

and was there a cross section

Good point Creole. (To be pious, it's an even more important point in developing countries.)

I agree that guilt is a completely useless emotion in this sort of discussion, and it's ridiculous that some people/publications still phrase it as a question of whether mother should go out to work.

mothers

Not my own mother. I can't send her out to work, she's dead.