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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm in the same boat.  You kind of have to think outside the box. Society wants to make 50 year old women believe they are worthless but you have to sort of elevate your own status and think of all your skills as counting for something. What are you good at? Since you have a background in sociology, could you become a social worker? At least then your education would count for something. If you switch careers it will make your degree seem worthless. The hard part is getting references. The school systems lower the bar so you don't need as many references or can use a personal reference. It might help to get your foot in a door, even if it's like a month long Amazon warehouse job or a school instructional assistant. Then you can at least put something recent on a resume and switch to something better. There are also work from home jobs like in customer service but you might need a year of retail experience. You can also try part time clerical jobs. Older women sometimes just start their own business, like you could teach teens to drive or start a maid service.  You could try freelancing or the gig economy or find a caretaking job on care.com. I know at our age we've been to school, done that, don't feel like going back again.  Have you tried career counseling?[/quote]

If you have not worked for the last 20 years, why do you deserve a career suddenly. You took a risk staying home…it did not work. I worked the entire time and had kids. Too risky not to. At 50, man or woman, if you have not been employed for 20 years…or even 10…sorry, you are pretty much worthless for employment. [/quote]
Someone who hasn’t worked in 20 years isn’t a threat to your career. Why are you so opposed of someone applying for job if they haven’t worked in 20 years? Are you also unwilling to hire recent college grads? They haven’t worked in 20 years.

It’s to the benefit of society that OP finds an entry-level role and builds a nest egg for her future.[/quote]

I know, right!

It's like PP (who has issues with her own mother), wants to have it both ways:  Oh you're a SAHM --- you're so lazy!   +  Oh, you're a SAHM who now wants a job -- Hell no, you don't deserve one!  That's a lot of bitterness there.[/quote]

The problem is that someone who hasn’t worked in decades has many hurdles to overcome:

-  lack of skills. Unless the SAHM has been keeping up professionally (trainings, technology) they missed out on decades of learning 
-  the SAHM will look as though she isn’t professionally motivated.  Someone who cares about working doesn’t stay home for decades. Something else has taken a priority over working for years and years. 
- changes to personality. Many SAHMs experience personality changes over time.  Even spending time with SAHMs of 5-6 years they seem far removed from the workplace. Inability to juggle multiple things and making a huge deal out of typical childhood problems and illnesses. 
[/quote]

LOL! I think you may be out of touch. Many stay at home parents who return to the workforce have been used to juggling many different things at once and have little trouble adapting back into the workforce. Yes, they valued staying home over work for many different reasons and were fortunate to be able to make that choice. Most are realistic and are not expecting to go back in at a higher level than they left. Plus change happens often in trainings and technology. You only have to be up to date on the latest changes, and most of those are learned on the job or during training the first few weeks. But keep trying to convince yourself that stay at home parents shouldn’t be allowed to go back. They can and they do. Often happier and more motivated because of their time at home. They are happy to be back in the workforce and often show it. Give me an eager and excited back to the workplace former SAHP any day over a bitter burnt out career driven worker. Skills can be refreshed - changing attitudes is harder.[/quote]
DP.. I am 52.  I quit for 8 months with DC#1 and 18 months with DC#2.

Yes, you juggle multiple things, but not intellectual multiple tasks. The juggling is mostly housechores/childcare. It doesn't require much critical thinking or analytical skills.  When I was a sahm for even that "brief" period, my brain cells started dying off. Getting back to work mode took some time.  It would be that much harder for OP.[/quote]

I'm a SAHM after a 20 year career. It seems like it would be hard to stop working then have to start again. I'd rather save up then stop working once you never have to return. It seems stressful to burn through your savings just to stay home, plus knowing you have to go back eventually. I hope it ends up well for OP.[/quote]

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