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EXCERPTS
To stay at home, or to send the kids to daycare. That is the question.
Deciding whether one is more noble than the other is a futile debate and I'll bet Iris Evans, Alberta's minister of finance, is wishing she could swallow her words right about now.
At a speaking engagement at the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto June 17, Evans suggested parents should sacrifice income so one can stay home to raise children. This is what her adult children have done, she said.
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I fully intended to return to my job after the birth of my first child but I fell in love with this tiny, fascinating child and didn't want to leave his milestone moments for someone else to see.
Maternity leave was only four months back then and none of us were sleeping through the night by the time I would have had to go back.
Besides, I only had a job and not a career. When I factored in the cost of parking, transit, child care and work-related expenses, I would have had $50 in my pocket at the end of the week.
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When my two daughters came in quick succession, going to work wasn't even on the table. Child care times three? Who makes that kind of money?
My plan was to stay home until they were all in school for full days. Then I'd look for something part-time and perhaps full-time when they were all in high school.
Things didn't turn out as planned, though, and with divorce came a real need for me to work again -- this time for money. And 12 years out of the paid workforce was a liability.
Would I have done things differently if I'd known how things would turn out? Yes, I would.
There's no easy way to raise a child; there's no guilt-free way to raise a child and there's no perfect way to raise a child.
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Whether you're working for money or working for love, it's work to raise a child. It does take sacrifice, it does take commitment and it is easier if you have a partner to share the load.
What it doesn't take is judgment calls, finger pointing, blame, or accusation.
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- reprinted from the Guelph Mercury