.... well, as I said, its behind me and on reflection I would not have had it any other way.
While in the process it all seems a natural thing, then again I was young enough when Pauline and I got married (24 and 25) so we didn't give things a lot of thought. Our friends where getting married and planning to have kids and it was generally seen to be the done thing.
I see over the past few years that all this cost is being quantified. Its looks like we have spent over β¬300K getting the kids raised and educated! As I said, we never thought much about it while it was happening, just got on with it. I sure could do with that β¬300K these days π But as I said, I still would not have it any other way.
Here is an interesting article (UK) on the cost of raising kids. How much does it cost to raise a child? http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/feb/23/cost-raising-child
I see that child care is a big chunk! Back in the day, it was a case of the mother staying at home and taking care of the kids but over the past 15 years or so this has all changed. I honestly don't think its totally the case the the mothers insist on continuing to work outside the home, it looks more to be the case that they have to continuing in jobs in order to keep the roof over head.
On the other hand I see no issue with the father being the parent to stay in the house minding kids, it would simply, for me, be a case of who can pull in the most from outside work. I think this arrangement is common enough in Scandinavian counties but again they appear to be more advanced in this thinking than the rest of the Western World.
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