Member Questions

I think you're asking a really important question. I don't think the answer lies strictly in whether or not we are better financial providers. When you look at the terrible pressure that girls are under culturally and the assault on childhood in our society it is hard to answer "yes" to your question. Children are exposed to things that we never were. I always find it amazing that women are still battling on blogs about whether or not it is better to be a stay at home mom or a working mom. I think there is far more to worry about in terms of what they are exposed to at a younger and younger age for the purposes of marketing.

Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore your question. Truthfully, I think that there are parents that are home all day with their children, and are not doing a great job of parenting. I believe we have far more to worry about with regard to the very negative messages coming through the media.

I guess it depends on what area of "better" you mean. Financially, I hope that we can do close to as well as my parents did but we are already better off than my husbands parents were. I do hope to have a much, much better relationship with my son than I had with my parents or my husband had with his. I also hope that I can make him feel safe and guide him through life so that he doesn't feel as lost and confused about how to function as an adult. Both of us were simply taught "go to school" which taught us nothing. Every career I brought up to my dad he said that it wasn't good enough, was too hard, didn't pay enough, etc. But he gave me no direction just a no to anything I liked. Scary part is that my dad works at a major university and has been a volunteer career counselor for 20 years!! So my husband and I have floundered for years trying to figure out what TO do and how to pursue it! So, anyway, I guess to make my point I hope to give him a much better life as far as his future goes. I hope to help him develop his talents and strengths so that he can be a confident, successful person and I hope to be able to give him some type of direction so that he makes a successful transition into adulthood.