re: Traditional gender roles

Nope. I'd rather be shot in the face than fall into the traditional Betty Crocker housewife role.
We do everything equally. If I have kids I will tell them to follow whatever path makes them happy. If my daughter wants to be a carpenter that's awesome. If my son wants to be a hairdresser that's cool too.

Quoting Rumpelstiltskin:" So should kids not go to school? I'm not talking about infants, I mean pre-school aged kids. I'm a school teacher and I can promise you I'm not raising anyone's kids but my own. "

I don't think that's true at all - that being said I think parents need to be more involved and aware of what their children are being taught.

Quoting sillygirltracyb 12/25:" it's not... and im sure i'll get blown up on here for saying what I really think.. but alot of the ... [snip!] ... lib... I guess it's nice "having the option" but in the end that option makes you a "slave to the system".. think about it..."

There are so many things wrong with what you just said. First of all, having the choice to have a career that you enjoy is not "being a slave to the system". Having your kids in daycare is no different than them going to school. Secondly, most people cannot afford to have one partner stay at home with the kids. There are millions of single parent families and families who do not make enough money to be able to stay home. Trust me, that is not why kids are disrespectful. It's because people who are smurffy parents continue to reproduce because they're stupid. I was raised in a single parent home and my mom worked full time. I turned out just fine.

Quoting LolaMcKitten:" I don't think that's true at all - that being said I think parents need to be more involved and aware of what their children are being taught. "

A lot of parents are aware, and a lot aren't. Cannot really lump all parents together.

Quoting Rumpelstiltskin:" A lot of parents are aware, and a lot aren't. Cannot really lump all parents together. "

No, I wasn't trying to - but I do know from experience (with my own parents, actually) that a lot just don't monitor what their children are being taught.

Quoting LolaMcKitten:" No, I wasn't trying to - but I do know from experience (with my own parents, actually) that a lot just don't monitor what their children are being taught. "

That's one thing I love about DD's school now. We have monthly parent meetings with the teacher to discuss what is going to be taught the next month and all of the parents get to discuss it and weigh in.

Quoting LolaMcKitten:" No, I wasn't trying to - but I do know from experience (with my own parents, actually) that a lot just don't monitor what their children are being taught. "

Yeah, I've had some parents who honestly didn't care at all, but even there I don't "raise their kids". Parents should be involved more sometimes, but even if they have no clue what is going on in the school, I'm not the one waking up in the night when their kids get nightmares, or dealing with sick days or holidays or planning their vacations or any of that.

There is more to parenting than spending all day with your kid, KWIM? I mean, lots of SAHMs that I know do nothing with their kids even though they are at home all day.

Quoting khigh:" That's one thing I love about DD's school now. We have monthly parent meetings with the teacher to discuss ... [snip!] ... with the teacher to discuss what is going to be taught the next month and all of the parents get to discuss it and weigh in."

That just feels like common sense to me!

Yes we do for the most part.

I wouldn't mind SAH for a few years and doing traditional gender roles, but I will never be in a relationship where the man is the "head" of the household and the woman doesn't have an equal say.

I don't think anyone can say they a traditional family, and if they truely are I feel badly for them. In past times women couldn't wear pants, couldn't do real college, and was okay for husband to beat and rape his wife. Women were suppose to look and act perfect, while also instilling the same for his kids as not to disturb their father. I seriously hope no one is living like that.

That all being said, yes I do stay home. I also work at home. My husband is very involved with our children, two girls. He dreams of them going to college, and doesn't mind we all wear pants and play with cars. We aren't a "traditional family" we are a family of these times.

Quoting Clk:" I don't think anyone can say they a traditional family, and if they truely are I feel badly for them. ... [snip!] ... and doesn't mind we all wear pants and play with cars. We aren't a "traditional family" we are a family of these times."

Yes, and No.

I became a fulltime housewife after the birth of my 2nd child....and remained one while they were in school (not a lot of jobs in my local area so i do a work at home gig). I love doing the traditional stuff, raising kids, taking care of the home & family, cooking, running everything on the homestead. In my culture and my late husbands culture, homemakers are considered to be the wise women of the village, and dominant alpha females that run the show....so I never felt diminished by staying home.

I also own a business, have worked in a career, have a nice cushy work at home job, and do a lot of "male stuff". I can survive completely on my own....I can earn & manage money and household bills, I repair the car, I do house maintenace, I can do plumbing (unclogged a pipe this morning), I BBQ on the grill (surprisingly a LOT of my women friends are schocked that I can).....I can manage a home and mine and my kids lives completely on my own, with or without a partner, I have been both widowed & left, so that is a necessity.

I dont mind letting a man take the reins, or asking for help when needed, but I also am very opinionated, my own person, & not submissive.

Quoting DisneyMommyTTC#3:" Yes, and No. I became a fulltime housewife after the birth of my 2nd child....and remained one while ... [snip!] ... a man take the reins, or asking for help when needed, but I also am very opinionated, my own person, & not submissive."

Which doesn't make you a traditional family. To me just being a SAHM doesn't mean you are automatically traditional family of the past. Basically what I wrote in the post you quoted is traditional family from the past, your family does not seem to match that.

Quoting Clk:" I don't think anyone can say they a traditional family, and if they truely are I feel badly for them. ... [snip!] ... and doesn't mind we all wear pants and play with cars. We aren't a "traditional family" we are a family of these times."

What you described doesnt sound traditional to me at all.

Quoting DisneyMommyTTC#3:" Yes, and No. I became a fulltime housewife after the birth of my 2nd child....and remained one while ... [snip!] ... a man take the reins, or asking for help when needed, but I also am very opinionated, my own person, & not submissive."

I consider myself in a traditionally-roled home and what you described is very similar to how things are here. I love it. I miss more adult stimulation, but everything in life involves trade-offs.