Working Together as Families

          What do you want to be when you grow up? is a common question little children are asked. Some want to be police men while others want to be artists. However, you never hear the response, "I want to be a father or a mother." Why is that? Such roles are devalued in our culture and society now-a-days. Women required to stay home with the children are "oppressed" because they can't go out and earn money. The world seems to think that how much money you earn determines your worth. This just isn't so. In Kathleen Slaugh Bahr and Cheri A. Loveless's article Family Work, they discuss the importance and purpose of family work. In today's fast paced world we are constantly looking for new ways of doing things more effectively and efficiently. Bahr and Loveless state that this takes away from the purpose of family work of talking, playing, and serving one another. I would urge everyone to read their article. 

          Another interesting fact about mothers with children that work is that they are actually paying to work. For example, say the husband makes around $43,000 a year and the wife makes around $23,000 a year. The family should be making around $66,000 a year right? Wrong! The family actually only makes $41,500 a year. Why? Child care services like day care or preschool are pretty pricey. It really isn't that economical for mothers to go to work. That doesn't mean that mothers can't work from home. If they did they would still get paid but not have to pay for daycare or gas to go to and from work everyday. :)