Comments on: On Your Bookshelf: Glass Ceilings & 100-Hour Couples http://www.theglasshammer.com/news/2010/02/26/on-your-bookshelf-glass-ceilings-100-hour-couples/ The Glass Hammer is an online community designed for women executives in financial services, law and business. Visit us daily to discover issues that matter, share experiences, and plan networking, your career and your life. Get a new job right here! Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:51:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Helen Pacheco http://www.theglasshammer.com/news/2010/02/26/on-your-bookshelf-glass-ceilings-100-hour-couples/comment-page-1/#comment-6778 Helen Pacheco Sun, 28 Mar 2010 03:57:00 +0000 http://www.theglasshammer.com/?p=4311#comment-6778 It is a sad reality that most women really do have to CHOOSE between having happy healthy children and a stable family OR a high powered career. Women who HAVE to work just to survive because of a dual income need or single parenting really have little to no choice of how their children are raised. I see the situation at most daycares as "kiddie Kennel Care". When I tried to return to teaching when my first daughter was 15 months old, my daycare fell through and my husband had to switch shifts so that he could care for her while I worked. This severely limited his career and made him have to take wage and benefit concessions that were not good for our family. My job also wanted me to be flexible on hours at a moment's notice. This was so stressful on my life, our marriage and our child that we felt that we had little choice but to give up one of our careers to have the family that we wanted. Another year of that charade and our marriage would be on the rocks and we certainly would have no more children. Now I stay at home and homeschool both of my daughters and I realize the economic sacrifice we are making and the ultimate trust I have to place in my husband and our marriage but if I got government assistance in childcare or some other flexibility, then would some outside entity have a vote of when, if and how many children we had? When others demand that daycare be subsidized or the whole structure be changed to fit their desires, how does that affect me as a stay at home Mom? Are our taxes going to rise so that families like mine would HAVE to send both parents back to work because the "policy" is assisted daycare, education, etc. but no support for a Stay at home parent? It's an ethical minefield when we talk about family/work choices. Helen It is a sad reality that most women really do have to CHOOSE between having happy healthy children and a stable family OR a high powered career. Women who HAVE to work just to survive because of a dual income need or single parenting really have little to no choice of how their children are raised. I see the situation at most daycares as “kiddie Kennel Care”. When I tried to return to teaching when my first daughter was 15 months old, my daycare fell through and my husband had to switch shifts so that he could care for her while I worked. This severely limited his career and made him have to take wage and benefit concessions that were not good for our family. My job also wanted me to be flexible on hours at a moment’s notice. This was so stressful on my life, our marriage and our child that we felt that we had little choice but to give up one of our careers to have the family that we wanted.

Another year of that charade and our marriage would be on the rocks and we certainly would have no more children. Now I stay at home and homeschool both of my daughters and I realize the economic sacrifice we are making and the ultimate trust I have to place in my husband and our marriage but if I got government assistance in childcare or some other flexibility, then would some outside entity have a vote of when, if and how many children we had? When others demand that daycare be subsidized or the whole structure be changed to fit their desires, how does that affect me as a stay at home Mom? Are our taxes going to rise so that families like mine would HAVE to send both parents back to work because the “policy” is assisted daycare, education, etc. but no support for a Stay at home parent?

It’s an ethical minefield when we talk about family/work choices.

Helen

]]> By: Lisa Reid http://www.theglasshammer.com/news/2010/02/26/on-your-bookshelf-glass-ceilings-100-hour-couples/comment-page-1/#comment-6357 Lisa Reid Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:13:07 +0000 http://www.theglasshammer.com/?p=4311#comment-6357 I recommend a book called "The Feminine Mistake" by Leslie Bennetts, which addresses the issue from a purely economic perspective. Although it provoked alot of controversy, many of the author's conclusions are dead on, especially in today's economy. I recommend a book called “The Feminine Mistake” by Leslie Bennetts, which addresses the issue from a purely economic perspective. Although it provoked alot of controversy, many of the author’s conclusions are dead on, especially in today’s economy.

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