Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM
You still didn't answer my question, if both parents don't want to give up their careers to raise a family, what is the point of having children at all?
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As much point as anyone who chooses to have children. The two things need not be mutually exclusive.
You have a very certain view of how to raise children. It's not a view shared by everyone.
My wife and I are not career driven people, we would never have moved to Japan if that was the case. But we are not quite rich enough yet to be able to live without working and work provides us with more than just money. It gives us something to do, provides challenges and social interaction. Anyway point is work is still very important to us for a number of reasons. Reasons that are important for our own happiness.
My wife took 6 months off work after our daughter was born. After that she went back to work and our daughter spends 5 days a week in day care. Now we were very lucky to get into an excellent facility that only has up to about 8 children. I believe our daughter has benefitted greatly from the time she spends there. The social interaction, the stimulus and the overall learning environment has meant she is very advanced for her age. In almost everything she started to be able to do things months ahead of what books and the internet tell us to expect. She enjoys her time there immensely. There's no crying at all when we drop her off. Anyway overall I believe her time in day care has been nothing but positive for her development. It's been good for her and good for us.
We still spend a lot of time with our daughter of course. There's the mornings getting her ready, having a shower, getting her dressed and having breakfast. And in the evenings we play with her, have dinner, read her books when putting her to bed. And we spend the weekends with her doing all sorts of things to keep her occupied, stimulated and happy.
At day care she is in a fun and stimulating environment and at home she gets all the love she could ever need. If I believed that day care wasn't beneficial for her then we would look at doing things differently. Later this year at least one of us will start working from home on a business we are starting. Even then though we would still look to put her in day care at least a few days a week because we believe it's great for her.
I am in no way convinced that having a parent at home full time is overly beneficial for children. It all depends on the parents. I believe a good day care facility coupled with good parenting can be an excellent environment for children. I don't believe there is only one way to raise successful, loved and happy children. There are many ways that it can be done successfully and in the people I know I see that all the time.