Feminists what do you think of stay at home moms? ?

PimpMasterPro	i love desperate housewives!!! i was installing cable for a woman... she locked the door on me and seduce me! ...

bankeranalbeads	They belong at home in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant. They should also be cooking some good food too -oh yeah, and cleaning the house like a good woman should.

100% American Bi.tc.h	I think its always better for one parent to stay home with the kids - preferably the mother for the first couple years, and then the dad is fine as well.

Billy bob jr.	I say if they want to...go ahead and stay home. Your life can completely change as soon as you have a kid. You may have your whole life planned out, but at the end...human nature will tend to win.

booradley	Every situation is different. Its none of my concern if a woman or man decides to stay home instead of use their degree. They earned the degree so whatever they do with it is their business. *If you say that anyone who puts their kids in daycare shouldn't have kids then your a close-minded moron. I know a lot of ppl that put their kids in daycare and they are fine. I'm sure that there are bad daycare centers, but lets be honest there are some bad parents too.

egg_zackley	Using your skills at home and choosing to stay with your children is a whole feminist movement in and of itself. It is a way of taking claim to an intuitive part of being a woman...I love it. I wish everyone had the opportunity.

CorpCityGrl	I have no problem with that. Being a stay at home mom (or dad) is a choice that you make--noone forces you to do that. I have plenty of respect for stay at home parents because it's a lot of work that doesn't come with a salary.

jenaenae	i'm a stay-at-home mom and i think that if the family can afford it it's better for the child and there's one more job in the world for someone who really needs it. i don't understand why ppl have kids just to put them in daycare. if you can't raise your own kids, don't have any!

bigclaire	Shouldn't we all be able to live our lives the way we want to? Why is there always a group who will attack someone else's choices? If someone wants to stay home with their kids, that's their choice, degree or no degree. Parenting is a job all in itself any way! Live and let live...

Mr O	kids should be raised by families. If a parent can stay home, that's great, if not, it's good to have the grandparents, uncles, and aunts around too. Never put a kid in day care where they are just a number to "teachers" who don't care about them.

+:GoodLife78+	It usually happens that the mother stays home becuase of nursing the baby, which the husband usually cannot do! My mother was a stay at home mom till my sister and i grew up a bit and then got a job, but not fully using her degree. It is the woman's choice, like in Marely and Me.

tonalc2	I think if they have chosen to stay at home and raise the kids, great. It's the hardest job in the world. If there is a choice between the father and mother staying home in the first year of the child's life, I would opt for the mother. After that, I think either is fine.

~NIKKI~	I respect them for staying home and making that decision to be so involved in their childrens life. However i feel sorry for women who have to do all the housework that stay at home moms do AND work 40 hours outside the home on top of that.

Steven M	im not a feminist but heres my take on it, someone needs to take care of the kids, it doesnt matter who, and i give credit to the couples where the men stay at home and the women work thats hard as hell. but if at least one parent is with the kid then theres no worry, its day care you have to worry about your kids. by the way whats wrong with working different shifts?

Mindy B	i think its the decision of the houshold its self, if the husband and wife dicide that one stays home for thier personal family reasons then its non of anyones buisness....people need to stop judging and pay more attention to their own damn houshold, i dont think its important as to what one stays home, i think it just depends on what works out better for that family, other peoples household is no one elses concern but thier own

Single mom nancy	its importnant for a mom because when you get pregnant you are given maternal instincts while men also do have those instincts there not as strong there fore it is smarter for the woman who know what to do to stay home.it has nothing to do with feminists..its a choice you can make..and a pretty good one..im blessed to be able to see my son grow and be there for him when ever he needs because i love that

ruth	Is this even a relevant discussion anymore? It's not like we live in the early '70's. The die's been cast and most of us women don't really have a choice to stay home, beyond the first couple of years of our children's lives. And this is just the facts. But when it comes to divorce, I think SAHM's fare the worst these days. The courts don't give out alimony the way they used to and moms are EXPECTED to work.

Rachacha	I am a feminist and I am also a stay at home mom with no degree. I believe being a feminist is about having the choice to do everything a man has the choice to do. I have all the thing available to be that my husband does, but I CHOOSE to be a stay at home mom because that is what brings me the most joy out of life. My husband is very into our childrens lives, you don't have to be with your kids 24/7 to be close to them. He works to help our family but I stay home to help our family too. EDIT: Growing up in a house with a powermom and a power dad (always at work) our house was always messy and me and my sibilings had to time with our parents. So, even though most of my children are in school now - I will remain a stay at home mom. To take care of home things while I have to time to during the day. I take care of the bills, the credit cards, the kids to school, lacross, girl scouts, boy scouts and everything else my children get into! =] While also keeping a clean house, and a Full and Happy family and Husband! I believe women should have equal rights and free will, and I'm using my free will to do what makes me happiest... being a mommy! EDIT: I'm sorry you feel most of these answers are "terrible", I guess you don't realize each answer is just trying to help you. Try googling this "gratitude".

Tanya S	I think it's their choice to live the life they want to. Luckily now women have the option of being able to have careers, but that doesn't mean that no women should ever be house wives. I don't think it's more important for a woman or a man to be the stay at home spouse, as long as the other person can financially support the family on their own. I think fathers and mothers both have important roles in a child's life.

JT	I think someone needs to be at home with the kids, but it doesn't need to be the woman. If a woman has a better paying, secure job that she's happy with why not have the man stay home? I don't see much of a difference between the person at home being a man or a woman, as long as they're loving to the kids. I don't want my kids to be raised by strangers at daycare, but I agree that 30-60 minutes at daycare isn't a bad thing. It gives the kids social skills being around others outside the family.

avictor	A true feminist will not cite a difference between a man and woman staying home. Equality works both ways. Whoever is 'better' with the children would be the proper choice for the stay home parent. It is not impossible for a man to be more nurturing and patient then a woman. Degree or not there is always time to use it and go to work but you can't get that time back when your child is young.

Wowie	Shouldn't part of being a feminist be appreciating the differences of all women? And allowing women to follow their own hearts' desires, whether that is to stay at home with the kids or go out and work? Essentially - its the mother's choice and her opinions that effect her life - so there is no right or wrong.

Mrs. G	I think its best if at least one of the parents stay home with a child until they are at least school age, although I think it should be the mother more so than the father. Of course the father is important in a child's life, but in the early years of a childs life, I think that the mother needs to be there for the nurturing and care giving, especially if she breastfeeds.

Mawm	Wish I could answer this but I'm not a feminist by the traditional meaning. I have a degree...magna *** laude from WVU, was a state supervisor, am a married mother of two. I work only three hours a week (training) now and have very good reasons for doing so. I don't judge women who work, who have or don't have kids or work and have kids. It's all about personal choice, values, world views and economic reasons. Whatever the case may be, I have been in each I listed, it's tough no matter which you choose.

abbbijo	I think it's their choice to make, and none of my business. Although, it's a disgraceful waste of a degree. My mother worked odd shifts to be home with us. When I was real little she worked night shift and was home during the day (although sleeping, she was still there), and dad was home at night. Later she worked evenings, and my dad worked nights. So they both had jobs, but there was always someone at home with us, at least while we were awake. Noone NEEDS to sacrifice a family for a career, or a career for a family. There are always ways to compromise. I think it would be nice to stay at home all day though. Send the kiddies to school, and get all the housework done really early, then go out all day. It's not like you'd have to be home to cook dinner, you can just get it out of a box these days. I'd say you could get in a good 5 hours of doing whatever you want before the kids get home. Maybe. I'd rather use the degree i'm paying for and earning right now, and go be an anthropologist, studying aboriginal people somewhere though.

LR	I am a feminist in believing in equal opportunities, equal pay, and equal respect for women. I was raised by a stay-at-home mother and I have friends who are stay-at-home mothers or were when their children were younger. The friends all have a bachelor's degree or more. Although it was not my choice, I support their decision because they felt it was best in their situations. Frankly, whether it is nature or nurture, on average, I think mothers are usually the better choice for staying at home with small children. The mothers seem to tend to have more patience with younger children, and society makes it more difficult for men to stay at home. Moreover, the man usually still has the better paying job so it is usually more economically feasible for the mother to stay at home. However, there are always exceptions to all of the above, and I believe it is for each couple to decide what is best for their family. Addendum: Yes, fathers are important, even critical to a child's development, just as mothers are, but the involvment and interaction don't have to be the same to be just as important.

Nezley G	A child needs its mother when it's young. I dont mean to go by the grain and say that men are the breadwinners, because that's not always the case. If a woman has a very young child (or more than one, especially) she needs to stay home. A child has to ahve its mother when its young. It is true that some women never get their careers back after they have children because, frankly, they don't want to and they don't think they need to. But after all your children have started school, its time to go get a job, mommies.

opetke	Feminists what do you think of stay at home moms? They hate them. I mean HATE. They see them as willing slaves to the alter of misogynistic abuse. ESP. Women who have their degrees but choose not to use them? Personally, I don't understand why, but it's true. They hold this even further against housewives. I suppose the idea is, if you're not college educated, you're to be pitied. But if you've recieved your education, that means your refusal of the feminist philosophy was an intellectual CHOICE. And that makes you a traitor to feminists. And is it more important that a women stay home as oppose to a man? Because men and women are different. A 50/50 marriage isn't two halves of the same pie. It's much more like a plug and socket. Both are radically different in design and function, but both are needed to create a circut. Of course, feminism has rejected the necessity of men on every level. So I can't imagine them understanding this rather simple concept. At the end of the day, it comes down to what people care about. I know men who are fastidiously clean. But they're atypical. I know women who think making a pile of stuff is getting 90% of the room clean, but they're not normal. Women take care of the home because that is their priority. They WANT clean floors and dusting every bookshelf, and they CARE about how the laundry is folded and where the food is kept. Men take care of outside chores because they WANT their house to look good, their cars to run well, and their power tools to be sharp. They CARE about building new decks so the family can BBQ, cleaning the garage so that they can exit their vehicles easily, and putting up Christmas lights so people can enjoy them. These are all just typical examples, but they illustrate the point: Men and Women gravitate to career and homelife due to intrisic preference. And is it saying men aren't as important in the kids life? No, thats what the feminists claim. That is reflected in their politics. But men and women bring different things to the marriage, perform different duties, and have different roles to the children. Fathers bring stability, strength, authority, justice, and safety to a home. They are final arbiters, disciplinarians, craftsmen, and defenders. Mothers bring compassion, warmth, emotional health, unity, utility, and love into a home. They are the drill sargents, organizers, supporters, medics, counselors, and keepers of tradition. With just a mom...you have anarchy and vulnerabilty With just a dad....you have inefficency and impersonality. It just doesn't work.