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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!zehntel!dual!amdcad!decwrl!decvax!dartvax!betsy
From: betsy@dartvax.UUCP (Betsy Hanes Perry)
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: Re: Mother needs no excuse
Message-ID: <2610@dartvax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 3-Dec-84 16:39:16 EST
Article-I.D.: dartvax.2610
Posted: Mon Dec  3 16:39:16 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 5-Dec-84 00:45:32 EST
References: <119@osu-eddie.UUCP>, <4177@cbscc.UUCP> <10077@watmath.UUCP> <179@harvard.ARPA>
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Lines: 34

> > Sophie Quigley:
> > If the parents don't enjoy parenting
> > or enjoy it, but couldn't stand doing it on a full time basis, then the
> > children are probably better off in daycare.
> 
> Marie Desjardins:
> if the parents don't enjoy parenting or enjoy it, but couldn't stand
> doing it on a full time basis, then everyone is probably better off if
> they don't have children.
> 
Whooa, Jessie!
Have you ever spent twelve hours alone with a toddler?
I have friends who do.  It's mind-numbing work.  Rewarding,often,
but two-year-olds just can't provide much in the way of intellectual
conversation.  "Yes, Mommy, I liked Sartre's defense of suicide a lot.
NOW can I have a cooky?"
 
Women (and men!) shouldn't be condemned for wanting to spend part of 
their time away from their children.  It doesn't make you an unfit
parent to prefer to spend some time with adults discussing your
chosen career.  My parents both worked full-time; I don't feel damaged.
In fact, I think I was better off with half of a happy, contented mother's
time than I would have been with all of a bored, trapped mother. (I'm not
claiming that all housemothers are unhappy, merely that mine was.)
 
What I'm trying to say is that no one lifestyle is right for everybody.
I oppose forced daycare *and* forced mothercare; different strokes for
different folks.
 
-- 
Elizabeth Hanes Perry
UUCP: {decvax|linus|cornell}!dartvax!betsy  
CSNET: betsy@dartmouth
ARPA:  betsy%dartmouth@csnet-relay