stay at home moms

[helix139]

I live in a neighborhood where there is a lot of stay at home moms and my wife and I are perplexed as to why they do stay home but don't do anything!
I.e. the majority of the moms have housekeepers, don't do yard work, put the kids in afterschool childcare or put the kids in part time child care. We both agree that if one partner were to stay at home the other would: keep the house clean, take care of the kids', simple yard work, and shop for the best deals for everyone in the house. Granted I would give up working or my wife would give up working, (or change our schedules) if we had to put our kids in childcare. (We have opposite schedules so our kids aren't in child care.)
For example: one friend we have quit a $90,000 dollar a year job to stay at home, but has a house keeper! And one baby goes to child care twice a week. (I understand about needing time from little ones!) But how come she doesn't keep the house like my mom did? If my wife stayed at home I'd better get sex whenever I wanted it and have an clean house and she had better not just spend money...I hope she would contribute to the household!
Is our generation one that wants it all? Are we that lazy? Does our generation not remember how hard our mothers and fathers worked so we could have most everything we wanted and needed? Even if you have all the money that you ever need could you stay home and not do anything?

[Scrumhalf]

Try this experiment (if you are married and have kids): Get your wife to leave the house at 7am and go do whatever. Try to manage for the whole day with your kids while cooking, cleaning the house, shopping, spending some quality time with the kids (i.e. actually playing with them or teaching them something and not propping them in front of the TV). I guarantee you will be completely exhausted mentally for sure and physically as well long before 5pm.

I have done this with my kids and it gave me a new appreciation of how difficult the job of being a home maker is.

[Bouncer]

fitnessbrat and scrumhalf, i think you guys are missing the point. he said that the stay at home moms he is talking about have house keepers and the kids go to day care. I agree 100% with what helix is saying. How come our moms could do it without the help of daycare or a house keeper? i think as a society we are getting lazy simply because these things like a housekeeper can be afforded.

[AD1]

I stayed at home with the kids for about a year. No idea what the big deal is. Depending on the size of your home there cant possibly be more than 2-4 hours cleaning a day. Spending time with the kids was a lot more enjoyable then spending it with co-workers.

[Bouncer]

I guess I was just saying its not all fun and games...

there is no doubt about that. i personally know many stay at home moms that work there asses off. i have all the respect in the world for them.