OOh you SKIVING CUPCAKE BAKING SAHMS....read this

[HoorayHenry]

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/janice_turner/article5484714.ece

Oh FFS. Where does personal choice come into this? No-one is forced to become a SAHM these days, in fact quite the opposite. Those who have ended up in that role do so because they want to - obviously there are exceptions, but the "siren call of the cupcake" is hardly the norm anymore. The tone of the article suggests legions of women frittering away the day before the highlight that is school pick-up time, and it's just nonsense.

this message means nothing to me

I'm not a high flier, don't want to be

I'd rather be at home with my baby than working in a shop/office earning £7 per hour

what about an article about the millions of us out there who work to get by, not change the world?
or do people like that bore journalists?

oh and I made fairy cakes with my kids yesterday

Helen Suzman "singled-handedly" treid to topple apartheid, boy dh's relatives who laungished in prison arrested along with Nelson Madela (both male and female)would be a touch peeved at that comment!

in the comments
"The most sucessful women I know don't have children.
The human race is debasing its gene pool

Martin, London, "

Now surely that depends on what you consider is being a success.

Maybe she only has issues with the doctors/lawyers/senior management women who jack it all in to make cupcakes? If you're on £7 an hour then it's fine, presumably.

absolutely bronze

if all the sahms who don't need to work went out and got jobs would that not mean less jobs available for those who want/need then?

most of us on £7 never gave up work when having babies, on that sort of income you've got no choice!

but to dismiss the non hi fliers is to dismiss most of the female population

I agree it is rather High salary based.
For many there is no choice.

What a prize pile of shite.

The article is a pile of nonsense of course. That's what most journalism is!

I have to admit though, I love the phrase 'siren call of the cupcake', and I have to say it does describe a few mothers I've come across! (puts on hard hat and runs...)

"Idleness has been sold to women as the ultimate freedom"

Idleness Idlefuckingness REALLY?

Hahahahahahaha!

"The argument is whether she has set a bad example for women and is neglecting her daughter."

Why should she be setting a bad example? She has the drive and determination to go after what she wants.

It's not right and it's not wrong, it's her choice and I think she ought to be able to make it without society making a guilt trip out of it.

I also think that unless there is evidence that the child is unfed, unwashed and uncared for etc. then throwing the neglect argument up is a bit OTT.

Plenty of children grow up to parents who work full time without ever being neglected and by the same token, there are sahm who are completely unfit and their children are removed from their care because of it.

Meh. I am far too busy on mn looking after my daughter to be baking cupcakes.

Idleness? IDLENESS ?

How f**king deluded is she!

Idleness, I bloody wish. I suppose for her being a SAHM means having a cleaner/au pair to help but for the majority, i.e. all the ones I know, it means doing everything for no pay, no sick days, usually no thanks. But the rewards are worth more, to me at least.

And what about SAHD, they are seen as something wonderful while SAHM are lazy do-nothings. If the job was so easy then does that mean they do not value their childcare provider?

This writing is typically patronizing nonsense spouted by the chattering classes who really have no clue about the real world.

I shall inform dh (a SAHD) "resist the siren call of the cupcake".

He will reply "I am wheat intolerant you idiot, I don't do baking".

Love the comment "women should be allowed to choose what to do: have a career or have a baby". Erm, yes. You seem not to have entirely grasped the nature of the word 'choice'.

I'm not going to read the article - having seen the comments from you lot I suspect it would just enrage me and I'm supposed to be working (for money to spend on manicures, obviously).

'No-one is forced to become a SAHM these days'

Are you sure? Or do yo know of a childminder or nursery that accepts violent aggressive autistic kids?

Anyhoo.

I returned to work when ds1 and ds2 were 9 weeks old, because I had to. with ds3 he was a year when I went college PT. DS4 is 9 mnths and i'm still here, mainly for the childcare issue but i'm in a place where I can see positive and negatives in both lifestyles and fully agree that a women should, in the rare ideal world nobody reaslly lives in, be able to choose what is right for her. Nobody should have to feel theya re setting a precedent or beinga role model for toehr women- live your life in the way you feel is best and affordable, and you're doing all you need.

What a load of utter bollocks.

I particularly hate this :

"Work is good, it can even be noble. It can make us forget ourselves. That is what we should tell our daughters. It can be hard, thankless, scary, joyless at times. But you will feel useful, purposeful, part of the world. Babies are meant to fit around our lives. We are the only generation in any culture to think the opposite."

There is so much in that one paragraph that I disagree with, I am fuming.

Work can indeed be good, or noble. It can also be shite and boring and repetitive and drudgy and basically just a way to make some money.

And if working makes you feel useful, purposeful and part of the world, does being a SAHM mean you feel useless, purposeless and cut off from the world? Really?

And I do not think that babies are meant to fit around our lives at all - I think babies are meant to fit into our lives, which is quite a big difference. The first implies that we are not prepared to make any changes or sacrifices for our children, which is surely not right in any culture?

Grrrr. I am quite

that article reinforces why i stopped buying the times.

not even sure i'd want it wrapped around my fish and chips.

Missorinoco, couldn't agree more. They must think the only women who buy papers live in London and are paid a shit load. It has been a drip, drip affect of actual nastiness from the Times for the past 2 years about SAHMs. I'll do what I bloody well like with my life.

Janice Turner and Alice Miles are the biggest culprits. Why don't they try writing something different instead of filching all their "ides" from Mumsnet? Er, that might be because they aren't very good at their jobs.

I have stopped buying the Times are including Sunday Times which has dumbed down so much we could actually call it a Tabloid.

Well said rebelmum - my thoughts exactly.

"'No-one is forced to become a SAHM these days'

Are you sure? Or do yo know of a childminder or nursery that accepts violent aggressive autistic kids?"

Point taken - sorry to have caused offence. One of the problems with making generalisations.

sorry, i only made it as far as "the work-life balance brigade" before mentally switching off and consigning Ms Turner to the midden of journalism. those crazy fools, seeking balance among the many different elements of life! WHEN WILL THEY LEARN?