[MMM]

Originally Posted by MissMisa

I never said that the parent's roles should be the same so that point is irrelevent. 'It's true that the child needs different role models in their lives'

I wasn't sure if you were talking about parents or "other people" and surely interactions with other people, children and adults, is important.

Originally Posted by MissMisa

You can raise the child without being there 24/7. Clearly if you are working 8-7 every day bar Sunday then that's no good either.

Indeed, it is about finding a balance.

Originally Posted by MissMisa

Your child will never grow to be dependent if one person is constantly there 24/7. It's easy for a nanny or a childcare worker to provide these basic needs (and more) for a child while you are away.

Yes, it is easy for a nanny or childcare worker to raise your child. But just because it is easy doesn't mean it is best. I think a few hours here and there doesn't hurt the parent child relationship, but when you have a situation where the child is in someone else's care for the majority of waking hours in a day, during those very important development years it can have negative results.

Originally Posted by MissMisa

Surely it's better to learn by example than to be 'taught' to be independant?

I would rather teach my child not to play in street than have him learn by example.

Originally Posted by MissMisa

There has to be a balance.

Personally I think if career is your priority, kids just get in the way, so that's why I don't want them. But either parent shouldn't have to give up their career if that happens as a result of circumstances beyond your control.

Raising a child is a full-time job. A husband and wife should decide their priorities before they start having children. If raising children is not a priority over a career, then why have children at all? I agree with your attitude. If you would rather be a professional career woman rather than a professional mother, then more power to you.

Originally Posted by MissMisa

There are positives to either example but I personally think working parents set a better example for their kids than those that don't work.

If you are saying teaching a work ethic and showing by example (rather than sitting on the sofa and not working) then I agree.

However, if you are saying being a stay-at-home parent isn't work, then I think you inadvertently insulted a lot of people, mostly women, who have put their children ahead of their careers as a priority.

Originally Posted by MissMisa

As a side note, from my experience (which to you will be limited because I'm 20 so not much to go on), all the kids with stay-at-home Mum's or Dad's are the ones that have never had jobs, and all the kids who's parents worked are the ones that have, or have had, a part-time job, including me. Those are just my observations and not stats, but that's what I'd rather go on than nothing.

I cannot comment on what you see around you, but at least my generation was mostly raised by at least one parent that put their career on temporary or permanent hold to raise the little ones, and I started working part-time as soon as I was old enough, and have been consistently employed since graduating college.

To be honest, now that I think about it, the ones I can think of off the top of my head that more regularly unemployed are children of divorce where both the moms and dads, out of necessity, had to work.