It's official, I'm old...
Sep. 26th, 2005 12:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I was reading the NYTimes, and in an article about women in elite colleges, it appears that most want to stay home and be full-time parents. As one of them blithely noted "Staying at home with your children isn't as polarizing of an issue as I envision it is for women who are in their 30's now." I guess I'm in my 30s, because I'm feeling hella polarized here.
This type of stuff really does piss me off. Of course, I note with some amusement, that many of the mothers of these girls also stayed home. So maybe it's just a cultural perpetuation. As one girl points out it "validates" her own mother's choice to stay home. And yet, it feels like women can now win at the game, and these girls are deliberately choosing to limit their options. At 18 no less.
Sometimes I'm just glad that I don't have daughters.
This type of stuff really does piss me off. Of course, I note with some amusement, that many of the mothers of these girls also stayed home. So maybe it's just a cultural perpetuation. As one girl points out it "validates" her own mother's choice to stay home. And yet, it feels like women can now win at the game, and these girls are deliberately choosing to limit their options. At 18 no less.
Sometimes I'm just glad that I don't have daughters.
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Date: 2005-09-26 03:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-26 03:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-26 07:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-27 09:11 am (UTC)If we stay home with our children, we aren't ambitious enough and are "wasting" our talents. If we got to work we're horrible, neglectful parents. We can't win.
My hope is to teach my children, both my boy and my girl, that there are pros and cons to all choices that one makes. That the best course is to keep as many options open as possible for as long as possible. Things in life are rarely black and white. I went to college and grad school and did interesting career work before I became a full time parent. I know at some point, when my kids start school, I'll be back to spending more time on my career. But it's silly/stupid to cast the die in only one direction and say "I'll never stay home" or "I'll always stay home". Life is what happens when we make other plans, and it never hurts to have as many tools as possible to roll with the punches, so to speak. We should all know how to support ourselves, cook a dinner without burning it, change a tire and sew on a button. It's just common sense!