In
the preindustrial era and in low-income nations, most families had many
children in order to have more hands for labor that was needed, such as on
farms. Wives tended to stay at home to raise the children, while the men went
off to work every day; furthermore, the main job for women was to have and take
care of their offspring. Presently, in high-income nations, some women still
stay at home to take care of their families, but most women are forced to enter
the work place because families can no longer afford to have only one parent
work. The price of raising children has increased, and the estimated cost of
raising a child is about $300,000 in middle income families according to
chapter 18 in the textbook. Many parents are working white collar jobs nowadays
and no longer need extra hands for agricultural work, so they feel there is no
need to have more than two children.
A switch in gender roles has
occurred recently as well, for there are many fathers who decide, or are forced
to, stay at home with their children. Women are receiving better education and
often times make more money than their spouse. In my family, there was a span
of about ten years where my dad had to stay at home with my sister and I while
my mom continued to work. Many of our family friends poked fun at our family
because my mom was the money maker and my dad was a ‘house husband’. I could
tell it was tough on my dad to be forced into a situation that others thought
of as out of place. Conversely, my mom received a great deal of guilt from
people, especially my grandmother, who did not agree with her working instead
of being a house wife and raising her children. She was said to be abandoning
her responsibilities as a woman and had no right to allow her husband to do her
duties. It is so frustrating to look back and know that our family friends and
my grandma were so ignorant towards my parent’s arrangement.
I loved having my dad as a stay at home dad
and did not think it was weird at all. Having a stay at home dad allowed him to
teach me how to play softball, and my sister and I eventually went on to play
varsity softball in high school. I got my love of football from watching
countless games with my dad and driving to UW-Madison to see the Badger’s play
on the weekends. He also helped my sister and I learn many life lessons from a
perspective different from my mom’s. I am so grateful that I had that
opportunity as a child to spend time with my dad even though society viewed it
as differing from the norm. This situation helped me to grow up knowing that
there are no specific gender roles we have to play and women are capable of
just as much as men.
As we learned in chapter 18, every
family is different. It doesn’t matter if you have a stay at home dad, gay
parents, divorced parents, or a blended family. Unfortunately, some people have
a tough time accepting the many types of families there are today, and this
causes families to feel outside the norm, like my mom and dad did. Hopefully,
people can learn to tolerate our changing world and all that comes with it.
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