Wrote a really good diary on this subject and the whole thing went poof when I tried to post a link.
Sigh. I will try to re-create it, sans link.
I am a stay at home mom. A housewife, if you will. My dh (dear husband) and I decided it would be best for our family for me to be a stay at home mom. As a working mom all my life it was quite a culture shock!
Hop on down to the other side!
Our older kids hated daycare and afterschool care. HATED it. They had been in daycare, pre-school care, school and after-school care all their lives. The quality of care was good, they just wanted to come home after school, not be in extended school. They were sick of being forced to play with kids they didn't like, share everything all the time and constantly have to interact.
They just wanted to come home and chill. When I surprisingly got pg with our 4th (had a tubal after our 3rd, so much for birth control being fail-safe, lol) we decided I would quit my job and stay at home.
The world turned.
Our house is the house all the kids hang out at. It's the house the teens used to come to before they graduated and went on the college. It is still transitional for our 18 y/o daughter, she comes and goes, mostly goes, but our 9 y/o and his friends thrive here. We have a pool and they swam here all summer. One of his friend's grandmas had a heart attack so he spent 3 days here. I provide childcare and eldercare for everyone in the neighborhood.
I read in an article which I will not attempt to link to since when I tried to my whole post poofed away but the gist of it was that feminists have a real problem with moms like me because by opting out of the workplace we make it harder for other women to achieve success. I disagree. My family is successful and my family helps other families in our neighborhood to be successful. So I'm not in a corner office. Big Whooop. Women like me contribute in the most liberal sense of the word.. by hands on doing it! By taking care of the kids in the neighborhood. By volunteering at our schools. By helping our elderly neighbors. By organizing random softball games and whatnot. We are DEMS!!!!!!