#stay-at-home-moms

#stay-at-home-moms

For forty years, I knew exactly what I was doing. Check the schedule. Load the van. Drive to the job. Solve problems. Go home tired but satisfied. Now I had nothing to check, nothing to load, nowhere to go.

The deeper I go, the more feminist I become! Yet my experience of academic philosophy has largely disclosed the opposite: a discipline that solemnly declares its devotion to openness proves curiously unsettled by me as a woman.

Luna Rosado, a single mother, has seen her gas expenses rise by $40 weekly due to a 30 percent increase in prices after the war in Iran. This has resulted in $160 less for groceries and other necessities each month, forcing her to constantly adjust her budget.

"Men's time doing housework is about the same as it was in the 1970s, and that's true whether or not the woman earns more money or the man earns more money."

"The idea of giving women a space to remember who they are - without trying to teach or fix them - is what resonates."

Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that women are more likely than men to work fully remotely, with about 16.4 % of women working entirely from home compared with 10.5 % of men in late 2024. Surveys and workforce reports also consistently find that women, especially mothers and caregivers, are more likely to choose or remain in remote roles because of caregiving responsibilities and the unaffordability of childcare.

By that point in our relationship, Al and I recognized that we live completely opposite lifestyles at home. I like creature comforts and wanted my dream lakeside home in Portugal. Al was interested in becoming even more self-sufficient, living off-grid if possible. Al already owned about an acre of land in Portugal. He put a yurt on the land, and now lives there without running water and with only limited solar power.

On a trip to see my folks last July, I noticed how much their health was declining and realized that my time with my parents was running out. It was now or never if I wanted to live close to them. The Gold Coast's property and rental prices have skyrocketed in recent years.

I wouldn't have to answer to anyone or for anything. Not requests for snacks or one more backrub. I wouldn't have to sit rigid, wondering if one of my three kids was creeping out of a bed that wasn't theirs. Or defend my parenting style while my oldest yelled about how life wasn't fair and we must all really hate him,

In the UK, Statutory Maternity Pay is paid for up to 39 of those 52 weeks. For the first six weeks, you get 90% of your average weekly earnings (before tax) and then £187.18 or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for the next 33 weeks. The final 13 of those 52 weeks are unpaid.

We'd been working together for years to make my medication regimen-treatment for schizoaffective disorder-safe for potential pregnancy. Under her care, I was tapering off an antidepressant known to cause respiratory distress and hypertension in a newborn. I'd been experiencing wild mood swings, even suicidal thoughts. My beloved doctor's eyes were sad. "I'm saying no to a pregnancy, Meg." Even in the moment, I understood her priority as a physician was to keep me safe. Still, part of me hated her.

Academia can be incredibly, overwhelmingly, demanding. Many feel that they have to dedicate all their time and energy to establishing and sustaining a successful career. But many don't want an all-encompassing career. And there are profound parts of life that can get pushed to the sidelines by these demands. And of course, for many, this includes parenthood. Today, we're going to speak with several researchers about the strain academia places on parents and those hoping to become parents.

I've always worked, even after having children, but like many women, I squeezed myself around my husband, Neil, who was the breadwinner, working in the insurance industry in London. Between having our two daughters, who are now 22 and 18, I became a stay-at-home mom. I looked after the children and the house, and managed to shoehorn my own part-time career as a counsellor and therapist around that.

It's late. I want to go to bed, but instead I'm picking up popsicle sticks and wrappers. I was always taught to leave the place better than I found it. I'm not expecting anyone to fold laundry or scrub floors. But I do expect the mess made during the evening to be taken care of, especially when my kids have been asleep for over two hours.

One of my late mother's widowed friends made the comment, "Finally I can have a scrambled egg for dinner. I'm never making another meatloaf again." And this was a woman who had loved her husband and had a pretty good marriage. Her grown kids were upset that when they came home to visit, "Mama isn't cooking anymore!" Yeah, Mama didn't care.

"The smartest women with the happiest relationships are the useless women," Dianna Lee begins in her video. "As you can probably tell, I'm a highly capable woman. I'm capable throughout all areas of my life, through my schooling days, to my career, and I attacked my marriage life in exactly the same way. I just executed. I was fast, efficient, and I knew exactly what needed to get done. And in retrospect, it was so wrong."

On a recent trip, my daughter and I were tossing her stuffed animal around the hotel room. The toy spun around near the ceiling and came to rest on the corner of the TV, high above our heads. My daughter pointed and tried to explain where the animal landed, on the, the, the ... she didn't have the word for "TV." Yep, we had to tell our 4-year-old what that big, black rectangle was called.

I am a new mom to a very sweet 3-month-old boy. I am lucky to work somewhere with a very generous (for the U.S.) parental leave policy, and am preparing to go back to work when my baby will be 4 months old. I'm looking into childcare options, and feel torn. In our area, daycare is very expensive (everything is expensive), and hiring a nanny will be more affordable. This is very surprising to me, but that's how the numbers seem to be working out.