Women, Work and the Modern American Family | Retro Report

No one ever asks men if they can have it all. I'm going to focus on my career and find a man who wants to be a stay at home dad.

What mothers in this current time can even afford to be stay at home wifes/mothers and just rely on just one income to survive financially??? This old traditional way of family life just isn't possible anymore for the large majority of families 😕

Mothers have worked since forever: hunting and gathering, and lots of chores. Imagine running a farm in 1920 with no electricity, gasoline or running water.
An arguement could be made that fathers, not mothers, are responsible for raising kids. For centuries fathers worked out of the home (carpenter, blacksmith etc) and mothers went into town and did the shopping. That meant mom controlled the money, did the budgeting, learned to haggle, and got good at math. Dad stayed home and watched the kids. Fun fact: When kids turned out rotten in the Bible, God blamed the fathers, not the mothers.

My mother still feels guilty about working during my childhood and I am 40 years old now.

How about just be unemployed and don't have kids

The solution is easy: moms go back to work and dads stay home with the babies.
Imagine how much fun they'd have together, and every day you'd wonder if your baby would still be there!

I was able to raise my boys and have a career and I don’t feel 1 ounce of guilt over it. I instilled good work ethics. I met their financial, emotional, and extracurricular needs and that’s what providers and partners do. If my husband were to pass away and I have no education, skill, or work experience then my children and I would be vulnerable and suffer poverty. I personally enjoyed the balance of earning money and parenting but if a woman chooses not to work then I’m not judging her either. To each is own. This day and time it typically takes 2 people working to have a comfortable living. Just because a mother is at home full time doesn’t mean she’s devoting all her time and attention to her children thanks to cell phones and other social media distractions.

I think the issue has become irrelevant. Today both parents absolutely have to work just to afford the basics.

My parents divorced when I was 5. My biological Father got full custody of my siblings & I (only because our Mother wasn't an American) & he quickly remarried.

My step mother was a stay at home mother. But other than cook dinner she basically ignored us because we weren't 'her kids'.

She ignored all of our emotional, social & educational needs as did our biological Father. Because he felt that all childcare was 'purely woman's work'.

When I turned 12 my biological Mother was granted full custody of my siblings & I due to his & my step mothers neglect. & even though my biological mother worked.

We had more interaction with her on every level than we had with our step mother. Our Mother worked so she pay for further education for us after high school. To try to set us up for a better life later on.

She even went so far as to take an evening job that allowed her to work. While we were at home asleep with our Step Father. Just so she could be there to see us get ready for school & see us off.

When we left she'd do a few hours of housework & then sleep till we got home from school. When we got home she'd give a a snack, then helped us with our homework, before preparing dinner for us. She'd spend time in the evenings with us & would see us off to bed. Before getting ready & going off to work.

On the weekends she would run through extra tutoring with us. To try & help us catch up with the schooling we had missed. So we could get up to the same level as our peers.

She did this for 10 years so we wouldn't be behind & we never feel neglected by her because she worked. If anything we were grateful that she decided to sacrifice so much for us.

She often made do with very little sleep, & rarely took time out for herself. Because she wanted us to thrive, & whenever someone say working mothers are neglectful. I tell them about our step mother who stayed at home & ignored us unless she had to.

Then I tell them about my Mother who worked hard sacrificing her personal life & at times her health. To make sure she was there for us whenever we needed her. & I ask them if they still think working Mothers don't care about their kids.

Quality of time is far, far more important than quantity of time. & you can do more good in a child's life, with just 10 minutes than you can do in 10 hours.

No national policies! KEEP GOVERNMENT OUT OF FAMILY!!!

Why can't the father's go back to home?

Excuse me??? It's time we QUIT the blame game!!!! Why are we pointing the finger & blaming each other & start putting it where it belongs!!!! On whoever is telling us"this is gonna make life so much easier!" don't get me wrong I don't want to go down to the creek & slap my laundry against a rock but do you REALLY need the newest iPhone? Or a shinny new car for our 16th birthday?? Some people can afford it , but if they can they don't care about you anyway!! All they're doing is trying to make you feel bad enough to work twice as hard FOR THEM while making you feel bad enough about yourselves that you blame th at 1 you at 1 time loved enough to make a family together?? Is this REALLY what we want? Put the big government big corporations & big pharma out of business!? Start supporting each other( NOT NECESSARILY financially) you know how nicely you greet someone you don't really know ( I.e. the girl behind the counter at the quick stop or the insurance man?) Go home & treat your wife & kids that way I'm willing to bet you haven't in a long time tell each other you appreciate at least how they're trying. Like the penny jar... Give a little take a little. It might just make you & your family richer & that cold massive corporation( who by the way is gonna fire you 6 months before you can retire with full benefits) feel a little less human!!!

biggest thing of all still is having a two parent home.

Only a Sith deals in absolutes.

I don't understand why fathers aren't considered equal care takers of their kids.

I feel more independent because both my parents worked and that helped me become a responsible adult.

Listen this (mothers WORKING) has been going on for thousands of years! The mothers take their kids to the fields to work! It is a PRIVILEGE to stay home!! Children are just fine with their mothers working. It is the quality time and discipline that the PARENT does that makes a HUGE difference.

As a mom of two, with my husband the primary caregiver for our children since day one (because those were the roles we chose), this whole video just boggles my mind.

My mum worked from home
It definitely made a difference for us

Mothers "in the past" did not actually spend a lot of time interacting with their kids. Children spent time with other children, with nannies if their famillies could afford them, and at school. Their mothers worked on farms or in the family business, doing housework, or socializing with friends.

The father of my children was working and he got up in the middle of the night to feed them, I know he had a hards day work ahead but I didn’t suffer from post pardem depression and I don’t know if that’s why but I appreciate him for being there with never once complaining.

I loved being pregnant and I loved giving birth to my children and I loved cooking meals with them and I miss them.

I still feel awful and guilty every time I have to leave my baby for work. But I have a good paying career that I love. So I go and I know I am making sure he will have a great life.

The joy of Life over rules all the confusion... Simply put if it feels right it is right ❣️🌌🌌🌌🏛️

This is very interesting and should be standard fare in middle schools

except there is no such thing as a family anymore because no one gets married and stays married...and everyone is having kids out of wedlock. The decline of American society right there.

This is nothing new. Poor women have always had to work outside the home to support their families.

this is peak misogyny "These women wanting to have it all" Let women do whatever they wanna do, they wanna stay home? good for them they wanna work ? also good and fuck off

I  guess   you  have  to  judge   how  this  turned  out  by  looking   at  the  world  today.

The family research counsel gave them the 40 percent statistic. Which is a hate group.

The one the duggars are with

Did anyone at that time ever came around to saying “why are we fighting about this sexist shit? let women chose what’s best for them and their families”. Because it scares me that that point wasn’t even mentioned in this whole video.

At the end of the day, don't take information at face value

This "Mommy War" garbage is old as time. If it's not Staying home VS Working it's some other choice a mom makes that is up for debate. You don't see "Daddy Wars" because they don't give a damn lol. I got married at 21 and now at 32 I have been a stay at home mom to our 4 daughters going on 10 years. It's been a huge privilege for me to be home but also a huge sacrifice at first too. Even with most of my kiddos school aged now, we find that even with school aged kiddos having a parent home to deal with sick days, snow days, school vacations, summers off etc has added value. Every family should do what works for them and their family unit.

I was a kid in the 90s and couldn’t wrap my head around the arguments at all. Where I grew up, mothers couldn’t afford not to work. There was no debate. If your family was making enough to only need one income the other kids thought you were rich.

I got very lucky and had both parents home all the time, my dad hasnt worked since I was in early elementary school and my mom works from home. I'm also homeschooled and my dad is my teacher. Hes my best friend, and I have great relationships with both my parents. I know i'd be a completely different person if he didnt stay home.

my mom didn't work until recently. Maybe it was necessary, because I have three younger brothers. But I am more close with her since she works and I moved out. That seems paradox, but at the home it was always only about household stuff. Now we conversate about science and work and more personal issues.

Working class women have been working outside the home for centuries, but as soon as middle-class women start doing that, it's a "mommy war". Many women are working instead of exclusively raising their children because they HAVE to.

My parents both worked full time and I had a great childhood and I am pretty successful.

I want to be a mother but unless I marry a military man I cant afford one properly. Welcome to America.

What about is staying at home being good for the mother I would lose my mind being at home 24 hours with my kid we all need a break 😩

There's no way a person can work a full time job and have enough time or energy for their kids when they get home.

My mom went to work when I was 15 out of necessity. My dad got sick and his insurance didn’t cover his prescriptions. Her working was hard for me. My husband was a “Latch key kid” at age eight and it effected him negatively as well, although he didn’t realize it until we had kids. I vowed to not work outside the home when I had my own family and I didn’t. We made the choice to live a more modest life to have that family time....it was the best decision we made!

My kids dad doesn’t even live in the country anymore 🙄 I should send the end of this video to him

Women: damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

One parent is not more important than the other, both need to take an equal role as parent to their child. If you want healthy well adjusted children, you need to take the sacrifice to your career and devote that time to your children. I don't understand how this is a hard concept to understand. What I don't see spoken of very often is the lack of respect a man gets from women in general when he doesn't have a successful career. He's often seen as a lazy bum who doesn't contribute, regardless of how much he contributes at home. There is a definite double standard when it comes to the views on men staying home vs women. Also the fact that regardless of who stays at home, progressives seem to think it's always a bad thing. If a woman stays at home, she's an archaic example of the past and misogyny exemplified. If a dad stays at home, feminists think he's lazy and doesn't contribute, playing video games and being a couch potato leech. Either way, some kooky soy loving liberal is gonna hate what you're doing and think you're horrible. So just live your life however it works out best for you and your family, and ignore the experts and talking heads of the day. As long as your kids are healthy and happy, what does anything anyone else has to say matter?

It's YOUR family!

How bout that. Fake news....hmmm

Working women is good. If it weren't for this, I'd probably be out on the street for my childhood.

Considering that there are so many benefits from the father also caring for a kid, it's totally amazing that soon the majority of kids will be raised in single parent households. Great.

My mom didn’t work when raising me due to my dad was in the military and I turned out fine. I say if they need the money to take care of their life and keep a roof over their head then let them work. It can show the kids that you are able to work hard and show the gains from that. I say it helps them that part mentally,as long as you still spend time with them and do things as family when you can it should be fine. That’s how I plan to be later on in life.