Homemaker skills

When the Federal poverty levels were established it was assumed there was a housewife at home who was a skilled homemaker. Today that can be looked at as a sexist assumption. However, the stay at home spouse provided many essential services. Today, things like cooking and child care have been monetized. Women work to pay for child care and to buy fast food or microwave ready meals.

I'm not saying we have to go back to the old days. There is no reason a man cannot cook, nurture children, or do any of the other jobs a household requires. Since women are putting in hours at work, it only makes sense that the domestic chores be shared.

There are men who say that housework diminishes their masculinity. It's a darn shame their sense of manhood is so fragile. Of course, I was firefighter who kicked in the doors of burning buildings. If I could do that I was certainly tough enough to change a diaper.

I'm glad I was able to spend a lot of time with my children while they were growing up. Childhood goes by so quickly that it's easy for parents to blink and miss it. My lovely wife worked a demanding full time job. I did most of the cooking because of our schedules and because I enjoyed it more.

Having hours to prepare meals cooked from scratch saved us a bundle of money -and we ate better too. It takes time to cook from inexpensive ingredients like dried beans and peas. How many families grind their own wheat berries to bake their own bread? By the way, whole wheat waffles from freshly ground wheat is amazing and really sticks with you.

Too many homes lack stability. They can't prepare a crock pot meal in the morning because they don't know what their situation will be by evening. Even back when my children were growing up, we were one of the few families that ate dinner together. We actually sat at the table all together with no TV or other distractions. I'm sure it's even harder today with everyone connected to electronic devices.

I'm glad we decided to make a little less money and spend more time with the children. The lower pay really didn't hurt us that much. By staying home more often we were able to do many things that other people pay money for. Those valuable things were all tax free, plus our taxable income was less. We might have eaten more beans and rice dishes than other families, but at least we ate it as a family.

-Sixbears