re: Guys with wives that were SAHMs - Did they go back to work after the kids went to school?

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I don't see why anyone would need to continue as a housewife once the kids were no longer young. If that's an agree-upon arrangement that both people want, then whatever. But I've heard quite a few people say they couldn't survive without a person staying home.

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I'm the oldest. My mom continued working full-time until my next sibling was born. She then stayed home and was a "professional volunteer" and kept her work certifications active. Got back into part-time consulting when the youngest got to HS. Just went back to work full-time when my youngest sibling went off to college.

Looking back on it, having mom around throughout was worth every penny of savings vs. her being employed.

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Any scholarship received helps the parents as much as the student. Have you ever seen a job application filled out by the average high school senior? If they screw the application process the parent are going to pay for it in the long run.

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You're assuming that the parents are footing the bill for the child's education. Also, if you're concerned about them doing shitty work, have them fill out the forms and you look over them before they are submitted.

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I don't see why anyone would need to continue as a housewife once the kids were no longer young. If that's an agree-upon arrangement that both people want, then whatever. But I've heard quite a few people say they couldn't survive without a person staying home.

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I think it depends on the situation. My Mom worked once me and my brother were school-aged but she worked for a school so she was guaranteed to be out when we were. My Dad spent 4-5 days out of town for work, so she did it all. Cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc. while still working full-time. We both played multiple sports and had academic extra-curriculars on top of that so she also ran us over half of the state of Kentucky. And still managed to carve out time to help us with homework and anything else that came up.

Looking back, she sacrificed a lot of her free time and a social life to be able to do that while working.

Are they juggalo poor

What do some of you geniuses that think it "doesnt ever make sense once they go to school" plan on doing during the summer?

I also think there are some other factors that feed into SAHMs not going back to work when kids go back to school:

1) One of my good friends/coworkers was a SAHM for several years until her kids got into high school. Part of the reason she stayed home as long as she did was because she was able to take care of her ailing mother who has dementia. It allowed them the ability to keep her out of a facility during that time.

I'm genuinely curious if this has started coming into play for some of these women as we look at significant changes in care for the elderly.

2) Sports and extra-curricular activities have evolved into traveling/playing an absurd amount of hours if your kid is any good at any of those activities. AAU, travel ball, etc. Even throughout the summer. Who is going to take care of all that goes with that?

3) Child care has gotten to be the equivalent of a second salary if you're looking at good childcare. And most 9-5 jobs aren't getting out until after your kid gets out of school so you're looking at, at the the least, a couple hours in the morning/afternoon depending on how your shift falls. It's cheaper to have a SAHM than to send your kid to childcare half of the time.

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Just hire a nanny.

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We did that for my daughter's first 2 years.

I didn't really like having a person other than myself, my wife, or a family member in my house all day.

I'm not sure we would go that route again.

My wife is a SAHM, but she also works out-of-the house for one of the ten largest companies in the world and only travels to close major deals anymore, but those can be in Indonesia, Germany, China, the UK, etc..

I travel in my job nationally, and sometimes internationally, but primarily work from home when not traveling. We have a teenager and an eleven-year old. They're pretty self-sufficient but we still stay on top of their activities and school.

Would it be easier if my wife was purely SAH? Yes? Would we have to downsize? Yes, as her salary, commissions and bonuses outpace my own.

mine just stopped working altogether

That's not what you said. You said she volunteers and works 20 hours, which gets him scholarships.

Obviously her getting on Google and finding a scholarship isn't a big deal and I retract my statement if that's all she's doing, though that's not what you said. However, how does being able to find something on Google make her staying at home worth it?

Hell, I am cool with SAHMs, but I don't know if that would be the reasoning I'd offer up if I were you.