No offense, but this view is somewhat antiquated. Definitely, 10 years ago, this view was very valid. Today, men take FMLA quite regularly. I took three weeks off after my son was born. My wife works from home, so I may not be the best example for this argument; however, she has a long day with the now eight-week old, and our four-year-old spends mornings at pre-school. I drive her to my parents' house so grandpa can take her to her school. When I get home from work, I typically make dinner and ensure everybody, including my tired nursing wife, is fed. Then my daughter gets her bath, teeth brushed, a story reading, and a round of sing song in the rocking chair. After I put her down to bed, I prepare my son's bath, bathe him, outfit him in his pajamas, and hand him over to my wife so he can nurse, and she puts him down for bed. During this time, I clean the cats' litter box and then feed the cats. We have about an hour for chit-chat before we go to bed around 11:00. I am awake every two hours to change my son's diapers and help my wife prepare for nursing. Then I'm up at 6:00 to shower and eat breakfast before waking my daughter up at 6:45 to get her dressed, fed, and primped for pre-school. We leave the house at 7:20-7:30 each morning.
Pretty busy schedule. If my wife worked outside the house, I'm sure we'd manage.
I saw a report the other day that showed many women are exiting the workplace to spend more time at home. I think that's brilliant! Not because I'm sexist and not because I feel the woman's place is in the home; quite the contrary, I think women bring much to the table at the workplace. As noted in the above examples, women and men have extremely different viewpoints, and this diversity typically sets the table for an enlightened, functional workplace. My overall point is that America's culture is collapsing because traditional home values have been forefeited at the expense of double-income parenting. Bring back our old-fashioned family values and this country may again be great. Nowadays, parents are much to self-promoting and self-serving, all too often pawning off their parenting to public schools, nannies, and day care centers while the real parents are fulfilling their own desires, wishes, and self needs. Parenting, like marriage, has been corrupted by the needs of self-fulfillment and entitlement all too present in modern American society.
I've known many men who have left the workplace to be the full-time parent as well. If you feel discrimination in the workplace is high for women who are parents, you should see the down-gazing at men who play the role of Mr. Mom in social cirlces.[/rant]
