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Restarting my career after motherhood

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Re: Restarting my career after motherhood

#41

Post by pbourke »

knorker wrote: post #14
spyremeown wrote: post #9

I strongly disagree with "I remained flat" statement. I mean, you were taking care of your children, weren't you? If you do it right (imho, if you even just try to do it right), it's the biggest accomplishment one can do. I understand how frustrating it must be to stay professionally flat compared to your peers. We absolutely should celebrate people taking their time off to literally raise the next humans, instead we…

Parenthood is by far the most subsidized personal choice in the universe. Let's not pretend it's not. Some countries give more than a year paid parental leave, in what can only be described as vote purchasing. Parenthood is compensated.

Driving a car is by far the most subsidized personal choice in the United States. It’s not even close.

As for subsidizing parenthood and children: the more the better. I don’t have kids, but as a human person I have an interest in the next generation of people being happy, healthy, well adjusted and well educated. And that of course begins with creating an environment in which the parents of those children can be successful.

Re: Restarting my career after motherhood

#42

Post by krapp »

Zababa wrote: post #31
knorker wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parenthood is by far the most subsidized personal choice in the universe. Let's not pretend it's not. Some countries give more than a year paid parental leave, in what can only be described as vote purchasing. Parenthood is compensated.

I don't really think it's fair to call parenthood a "personal choice". It's not a complete necessity like food and water, but it's also not a complete personal choice like getting a tattoo. The majority of humans are going to be parents. All living humans come from a long unbroken line of parents. It's more fundamental than a simple personal choice.

Parenthood must be an entirely personal choice. Otherwise the implication is that "society" or government have the right to regulate bodily autonomy, force people to have children, outlaw abortion or homosexuality as "threats to society," engage in eugenics, etc.

Most would consider the implications of that to be highly immoral.

Re: Restarting my career after motherhood

#43

Post by the_af »

UncleMeat wrote: post #37
DaveExeter wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know. Why should anyone have kids! The ROI of children is vastly lower than most other endeavors in life. Start a company, not a family.

A lot of people judge their life with metrics other than their bank account.

I think the comment you're replying to is sarcastic.

Re: Restarting my career after motherhood

#44

Post by spyremeown »

DaveExeter wrote: post #27
wahnfrieden wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of capitalism’s exploited externalities (no economic value placed on the labor of raising children)

I know. Why should anyone have kids! The ROI of children is vastly lower than most other endeavors in life. Start a company, not a family.

>The ROI of children

Seriously go outside, get some sunlight and touch grass.

Re: Restarting my career after motherhood

#45

Post by speedgoose »

the_af wrote: post #43
UncleMeat wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people judge their life with metrics other than their bank account.

I think the comment you're replying to is sarcastic.

I wouldn’t bet my family on it, but I hope it’s sarcastic.

Re: Restarting my career after motherhood

#46

Post by 7952 »

Zababa wrote: post #31
knorker wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parenthood is by far the most subsidized personal choice in the universe. Let's not pretend it's not. Some countries give more than a year paid parental leave, in what can only be described as vote purchasing. Parenthood is compensated.

I don't really think it's fair to call parenthood a "personal choice". It's not a complete necessity like food and water, but it's also not a complete personal choice like getting a tattoo. The majority of humans are going to be parents. All living humans come from a long unbroken line of parents. It's more fundamental than a simple personal choice.

Yes, people can have very strong instinct to have a baby. It is unreasonable to expect people to suppress that.

Re: Restarting my career after motherhood

#47

Post by sweettea »

I'm proud that my employer has a specific program to help folks who have taken a break in their careers rejoin the workforce. While we are currently mostly only hiring production engineers, the author and others in this situation should check out Meta's return-to-work program: https://www.metacareers.com/facebook-life/return-to-work/

Re: Restarting my career after motherhood

#48

Post by k__ »

razemio wrote: post #32
knorker wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parenthood is by far the most subsidized personal choice in the universe. Let's not pretend it's not. Some countries give more than a year paid parental leave, in what can only be described as vote purchasing. Parenthood is compensated.

It is absolutely not! We live in Germany which has good options compared to other countries and it is still not enough. My wife earns 5000€+ in her job. Guess what, you can earn a maximum of 1800€ during parental leave. It gets even better, now that she takes a few hours less because somebody needs to take care of our child, kid number 2 will even be compensated with less (1400€). How is this fair? This is without th…

I know a bunch of women who ran a successful startup on the side of parental leave, so it can't be too bad.

Re: Restarting my career after motherhood

#49

Post by dbcurtis »

a-dub wrote: post #7

some large companies, (i've seen ads from facebook, although i'm sure there are others), have "returnship" programs for people in this exact situation. edit: see https://www.springboard.com/blog/career-advice/amazon-facebo...

Add Zoox to the list of companies with “returnship” programs.

Re: Restarting my career after motherhood

#50

Post by in_cahoots »

pizza234 wrote: post #36
spyremeown wrote: post #9

I strongly disagree with "I remained flat" statement. I mean, you were taking care of your children, weren't you? If you do it right (imho, if you even just try to do it right), it's the biggest accomplishment one can do. I understand how frustrating it must be to stay professionally flat compared to your peers. We absolutely should celebrate people taking their time off to literally raise the next humans, instead we…

> If you do it right (imho, if you even just try to do it right), it's the biggest accomplishment one can do. Family ambitions and personal ambitions are two separate things (although for some people, typically women, they do match). Personally speaking, I do have parental and professional goals, and I don't think of any of the two as neither superior nor compensating respect to the other. > they spent 5~6 years off…

It doesn’t need to be like this, but that’s what her family chose. One model isn’t superior over the other. It would be great if tech companies supported both family styles, just like they tout their other family-friendly benefits.
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