Stay at home parents (32)

Because u are

Hey Ozi, good to see you back again.

You have some good points with the use of nannies and being able to rely on family.

I have used my family, sister's mainly, to babysit while I worked and because it was not consistant and there were so many people telling the kids what to do, it became confusing for them. I was working about 50 hours a week and we only had one car so I was catching the train to the next suburb and back, walking kilometres to work and then doing 9 hr shifts. I hardly saw the kids and they were angry and confused and I was tired and irritable, it wasn't a good situation. I would recommend using family in a pinch but i would never rely on them again like i did. It was too much for everyone involved.

The 'welfare state' mentality is passed on to a person's offspring. There are now third and possibly forth generation single mothers out there who were raised to believe that the country owes them a pension.... All they have to do to get one is to have a baby.

I see couples where they both work while raising children... and they are paying taxes to feed the sponges of society. Effectively, we are paying sponges to produce the next generation of sponges.

That is perhaps a little harsh... but I understand where you are comming from.

I too find it difficult to understand the mentalitly of people who think that they should never have to work... and that they will exist on benefits forever...

In my case the money that I recieve from Centrelink was serverly affected each time that I gained part time employment. I was penalised for working, but thought that in the long run it was the best thing for my family and myself.

After I had a little bit of a break down last year I haven't returned to my various part time jobs.
Previously I had worked three part time jobs, and been studying towards a certificate and a diploma.

As soon as my littlest goes to school I will look to go back to teaching full time, but for now aim to be working several days a week as a casual teacher in the next few months. (As well as the part time job I was offerred the other day!)

Yes, that is another good point and it is certainly taking place alot. It is sickening to think that women can pump out babies just for the welfare, unfortunately though like you said, it is a case of being a victim of your circumstances and if that is what you know then you are inclined to do same.

I feel as a stay at home mum that I have worked and paid taxes and will do so again for the rest of my working life, so yes I am entitled to get some of those taxes back to ensure that my children have a loving, stable, reliable, encouraging, educational, guiding & nurturing environment around them in their younger & most influential years.

Three decades ago we also had an inflation rate at about 9-10%. While this was a dream come true for home buyers struggling to pay the mortgage (as the mortgage was a fixed amount and wages were rising with inflation), it wasn't so good for people who had money as the value of the money you already had was being rapidly eroded... and rich people didn't like that much.

The reason for this level of inflation was that there was no unemployment in those days. Employers had to compete for staff. The only way to get people to work for you was to pay more than your competitors were paying. Anyone who was too incompetant to get a job in the private sector was virtually guaranteed a job in the public sector.

Unemployment became a check-valve for inflation and successive governments have used it to regulate inflation. Governments are happiest when there is an unemployment rate of around 4-5% as there are enough people applying for the available jobs to keep wages in check.

The work for the dole program was never about getting people into work... rather, it was about getting people to applying for jobs. Some had been unemployed so long that they just accepted their lot in life as being surplus to the workforce's needs and stopped applying for jobs. Inflation began to rise as a result and the government needed to get those people applying for jobs again... so work for the dole was born. It's just a pity that the people who really want a job get put through hoops like work for the dole when the government doesn't want them to get a job, they only want them to apply for jobs.

The bottom line is that you'll never see full employment again... it creates inflation and that hurts the wealthy too much.

^ Yep.

After reading these I would like to question if people go into specific lines of work such as teaching or after school care, day care etc because the hours are more suited to being at home with kids or whether it is a career choice because it is what you really want to do. So many mothers I know are stuck in jobs they don't really want to do but have chosen to do so for the money and convenience and/or social outlet. None of them really complain about it but i wonder if we sell ourselves short in terms of our careers because of our circumstances.

I enjoyed being a personal assistant, secretary and working in Administration, however I have always wanted to pursue Nursing, its only now I feel the kids are independent enough and it is the right time to pursue that. But I certainly would have done whatever it was I had to do to obtain an income to support us, for sure.