Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What could Universal Early Childcare look like?

dchung.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 65 posts

Re: What could Universal Early Childcare look like?

#31

Post by oh_sigh »

everdrive wrote: post #4
oh_sigh wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So basically one person, usually the woman, gets to not have a personal life.

My wife is a homemaker (and soon to be mother) -- and trust me, she's got a much bigger personal life than I do. I'm not nearly as good at socializing as she is, and it shows. A job is definitely not required for a personal life.

I agree it isn't required, but providing full-time child care prevents you from doing a lot of things. If you consider "personal life" to be "socializing with other moms", then yes you can have a personal life. But that is not everyone's dream of a personal life.

Re: What could Universal Early Childcare look like?

#33

Post by s1artibartfast »

voz_ wrote: post #26
wernercd wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is you think the left isn't full of regressive powers. You, in the left, have failed because you're guilty of what you claim others are doing and do so while calling anyone you disagree with "nazi's" and "racists". making those "slurs" worth less than the promises you're failing to kill us all with.

If you think nazi and racist is a slur, and not a label, you’re a moron. There’s people waving nazi flags and saying racist things towards Jews, Asians, African Americans, and others, what should we call these people?

If I were to call you a nazi, would that be a label or a slur?

Both are true: Real Nazis exist and the word is grossly overused as a slur

Re: What could Universal Early Childcare look like?

#34

Post by DoreenMichele »

oh_sigh wrote: post #29
DoreenMichele wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a former homemaker. What the woman gets is nothing but a personal life. It's not necessarily a problem if she has married well , they plan well for her financial comfort after he is gone and they remain together "until death do us part." It's primarily a problem if they divorce and now she needs to somehow launch a career from scratch. Those years spent raising kids don't tend to readily translate to a good resum…

There are a whole slew of activities that you cannot do if you're providing full-time childcare, especially for, say, under 5 year olds who aren't in school yet.

You can say the same thing about working full-time at any job. But you want to list a few for me so we can actually discuss this instead of you just dismissing my opinion as if 'nuh-uh' is a meaningful rebuttal?

Re: What could Universal Early Childcare look like?

#35

Post by ta8645 »

oh_sigh wrote: post #29
DoreenMichele wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a former homemaker. What the woman gets is nothing but a personal life. It's not necessarily a problem if she has married well , they plan well for her financial comfort after he is gone and they remain together "until death do us part." It's primarily a problem if they divorce and now she needs to somehow launch a career from scratch. Those years spent raising kids don't tend to readily translate to a good resum…

There are a whole slew of activities that you cannot do if you're providing full-time childcare, especially for, say, under 5 year olds who aren't in school yet.

There are a whole slew of activities you can not do when working a full time job, either.

But in any case, when you have children, you are choosing the family life. Which means some things will no longer be an option. But that is true for every decision we make in life.

There is no way to have everything in life, even through the magic of taxation and government "universal" programs.

Re: What could Universal Early Childcare look like?

#36

Post by zdragnar »

oh_sigh wrote: post #27
anon291 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh man... my wife and her friends see each other practically every day with the kids. They practically live together half the time. Whereas I see my friends (her friend's husbands usually) like once a week / maybe twice if i'm lucky. I have no idea where this idea has come from that stay at home moms are stuck at home. Most of the time they are out chatting, eating lunch at each other's houses, or doing something fun…

I see "personal life" as much larger than "childcare with friends". Can your wife go mountain biking? Can she attend a lecture that coincides with nap time? Can she delve into a tough book?

Friends and family can help watch the kids- taking a bit of personal time is important too.

Those things are all easier to do as a stay at home parent than if both parents are working, because then you end up dedicating all of your non-work hours to family, chores and errands anyway.

Re: What could Universal Early Childcare look like?

#37

Post by sudobash1 »

oh_sigh wrote: post #28
asow92 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This just isn't true, that is unless, you've been tricked into tying up your personal identity with your job? When my wife and I had our son everything became clear and we realized that success at work was just a means to an end.

Nope, just the opposite. I don't like the concept of making work friends and keep a strict separation between the two. I was talking about the ability for the "primary caretaker" to pursue their own interests, many of which are precluded by the act of fulltime childcare

Unless one is pursuing one's own interests on company time, I don't see how being the parent with a career makes it any easier to pursue personal interests.

Re: What could Universal Early Childcare look like?

#38

Post by asow92 »

oh_sigh wrote: post #29
DoreenMichele wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a former homemaker. What the woman gets is nothing but a personal life. It's not necessarily a problem if she has married well , they plan well for her financial comfort after he is gone and they remain together "until death do us part." It's primarily a problem if they divorce and now she needs to somehow launch a career from scratch. Those years spent raising kids don't tend to readily translate to a good resum…

There are a whole slew of activities that you cannot do if you're providing full-time childcare, especially for, say, under 5 year olds who aren't in school yet.

Are you proposing that we can do these activities if we have government subsidized childcare and don't work? How does that add up exactly?

Re: What could Universal Early Childcare look like?

#39

Post by hammock »

Contusion3532 wrote: post #22
wernercd wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Yes, let's instead give the money to unaccountable private entities whose sole motive is profit, at the expense of all else. With governments, we can at least vote in different politicians.

Take a typical private school example, a non-profit parochial school with a mission of promoting its students' pursuit of excellence.

The parents are the clients. Anyone with kids in one of these schools can tell you how the administration bends over backwards to please the parents.

Much better than “voting in different politicians.” Much MORE accountability

Re: What could Universal Early Childcare look like?

#40

Post by sudobash1 »

oh_sigh wrote: post #27
anon291 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh man... my wife and her friends see each other practically every day with the kids. They practically live together half the time. Whereas I see my friends (her friend's husbands usually) like once a week / maybe twice if i'm lucky. I have no idea where this idea has come from that stay at home moms are stuck at home. Most of the time they are out chatting, eating lunch at each other's houses, or doing something fun…

I see "personal life" as much larger than "childcare with friends". Can your wife go mountain biking? Can she attend a lecture that coincides with nap time? Can she delve into a tough book?

> Can your wife go mountain biking?

This seems a silly question. During the workday, neither spouse can go mountain biking. Outside of the workday both spouses can go mountain biking. This is true whether one or both spouses are wage-earners.

Post reply on HN