Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:When my husband proposed and asked me relocate with him for a professional program, he told me after his degree we would prioritize whatever I wanted to do and if I wouldn't move, he was staying put. My response was I'd support him through the degree and then wanted to stay home with three children. That's what happened. He understood and valued what I saw as my vocation. Would have been equally supportive of me having a career. Married 45 years. Exactly the life i wanted.
Some thoughts: you need to find someone who values you more than money. I don't know how. Others may have suggestions.
You need to have the ability to work if necessary. As with everything, it helps if you have family money/future inheritance.
We were downwardly mobile for 20 years, but were never worried because my family would have been delighted to employ us in a family business. They even made a counter offer to my husband when interviewing for first post grad job.
Didn't buy a house till I got an inheritance. Shared one compact car for decades.
LOL! It was much easier to have a SAHM 45 years ago. Who doesn’t know that?
Maybe so, but none of my high school or college friends became stay at home moms. Most have advanced degrees. I dropped out of law school to get married. None of my husband's professional colleagues had stay at home spouses. My parents worried I'd be bored. In our social group, my choice was unusual. I don't think it's a better choice than being an employed parent. It was just the life I wanted. I hope OP gets the life she wants.
You are being deliberately obtuse about the economic differences between deciding to stay home now versus 45 years ago.
I think being a SAHM is a perfectly valid choice as is wanting to work. It is also ok for men to expect their wives to work as women typically expect their husbands to work (although I do know three SAHDs where the wives are super happy to have their husbands stay home). That said, the economics of a SAHP have dramatically changed even in the last 10 years and we are about to have an AI “bubble” that is going to leave people feeling even more uncertain. It is no surprise to me that men may become more uncertain about signing up to be the sole breadwinner.
I am a wife who has been the primary earner (by a landslide) for the past 5 years. My husband does not want to be a SAHD even though it would make our lives immensely easier — fine, he can work and we hire an after school sitter.
Whether women work or not, they are hit with misogyny (external and internal). Women working outside the home do way more work in the home than men (and the more they make, the more they do at home). Women who stay at home are often undervalued. At a societal level, we still have many problems. I know some SAHMS whose husbands value what they do. And I know some SAHMs that are totally trapped married to huge misogynists. It can be hard to predict.
I hope OP can stay home, but she seems desperately naive about how this can really happen. I would not marry someone in Lala Land about how the world really works. I think this may be her bigger problem.