Housewife vs SAHM
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Anonymous
No. How about "a mother with non-adult children at home who does not have paid employment and is not currently looking for paid employment"? |
Anonymous
But what about when kids leave for college or basically barely see mom because they have their own lives and our at school most days? |
Anonymous
That is when the mom becomes "retired" or, perhaps, goes back to work PT (semi retired) or back to work full time. Or if she prefers to call herself a housewife/homemaker, that's fine, too. |
Anonymous
She's not retired if she never worked and never earned a pension. My husband and I both have large retirement portfolios. I can't imagine relying on one spouse'. |
Anonymous
Here's a novelty--I didnt even need a term for how I spend my time once I moved out of D.C. I never find myself answering the question "what do you do" unless I'm filling out an insurance form at the doctor's office. No one where I live now cares or asks. They know me as a person. I have acquaintances and neighbors for years and have no idea where they go to work or who their "Boss" is. |
Anonymous
But aren't most women the family manager? I work full time and do everything on your list except volunteer. I do a lot during my lunch hour. |
Anonymous
Retirement implies you worked and saved up enough assets to be financially independent and no longer work. SAHM is not living off her investments earned thru work, unless you consider her relationship to her DH work. |
Anonymous
I think that would fall under the category of "Her business" not "Your business". If she and her husband agreed that she should SAH and take care of childcare duty, that was a legitimate choice and that they somehow managed to make work with one income. Good for them. Plus, you don't know if the SAHM worked previously and has her own pension/accounts that will supplement the marital retirement income. You also can't assume that a person who has worked full time all of their life has put away a dime or earned any type of pension. Don't ASSume. |
Anonymous
And if you meet her, and if she says that she's retired, you can then say, "No, you're not." Other than that, really, how is it any business of yours, what she calls herself? |
Anonymous
Me too. I even volunteer at school because I WAH full-time 40 hours per week and move my hours around when I volunteer. 22-years in and I have a hefty amount of retirement saved. We also use my health benefits because I am a fed and DH works for himself consulting. I play the role of SAHM (doing all carpool driving), but have to squeeze in the 40-hours work too. |
Anonymous
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^^ I've come to believe the difference between working moms and sahms/housewives is lack of efficiency in the latter group.
In our school, many of the room moms and volunteers are moms that at least still work part-time. The sahs are too over-whelmed and always want to tell you how busy they are. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
| You know what I see all the time--on vacation, meeting new people...they'll ask my husband what he does and then they get squirrelly like they are afraid to ask me. Once I volunteer my STEM job, the men get all animated and start asking me questions and there is that look of respect and admiration. Later, I'm always told how impressed they are with me. I am an attractive woman involved with her kids so I think they expect that I am the trophy wife or SAH. |
Anonymous
And I have found that SAHMs and working moms can work really well together. The working mom brings her more recent work experience to the table, while the SAHM brings flexibility. The combination can be really productive. |
Anonymous
I am. |