Men's Group

Still, while the options for most working Americans (ie not the Romneys) are shit and shittier when it ones to child care, there are a couple points:

One, whatever the intent, it came off as snotty and judgmental, and like Rommey saying "I like to fire people", there's no good way to explain or spin it. Admit it was a dumb thing to say, and move on.

Two, This tired line about "ooh, it must be so nice to be able to just stay home", or that parents who stay at home are "dropping out" or they stay home because "gee, who wouldn't want to sit around all day and not have a job". It's bullshit, and frankly, as someone who has done both and seen many other people who have done both, there is not a single one I've ever met- a parent who went from a stay at home with little kids gig to a regular workaday gig, or vice versa, who hasn't said "Shit... The so-called actual job was way easier".

I know some people, particularly non-parents, like to roll their eyes and imagine that those sorts of things are made-up, self-justifying platitudes spouted by parents who are soaking in Calgon baths all day, maybe taking a brief break to chauffer their budding consumer units to some totally unnecessary, expensive lesson, all the while holding a palm up to their brow and sighing about how difficult it is.

But the TRUTH- the truth for stay at home parents (who aren't the Romneys) is that it IS seriously hard work. "Oh, you're your own boss", some say. No, your boss is a psychotic leprechaun that needs you to wipe its ass. And speaking of which, at your actual job that is really a job as opposed to what lazy stay at home parents do, if you need to go to the bathroom during the day, does your boss follow you into the can and demand things from you while you're trying to take a dump?

(Please note that this rant is based on some of the blabber that's been floating around pertaining to stay at home parents, none of this is directed at YOU. )

And the fact of the matter is, for many families- many NON wealthy families- it makes SENSE for one parent to stay home. Often that's the mom, sometimes the dad. More sense financially, more sense logistically, and sure as shit more sense in the fact that no, many parents are not comfortable and ready to hand off their 6 month infant to a total stranger for 50 hours or so a week, if not more. Many parents want more time with their little ones, and many parents feel that it is important. Certainly, many parents can't make that work... but there are also many parents that wouldn't make enough in the 2nd income to cover day care, or other attendant child care expenses.

The idea that stay at home parents are somehow lazy, or not really working, or that somehow staying at home is just a luxury of the idle rich. None of these are remotely close to the facts.