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Spreading child-supervision duties around the extended family and community so parents can do other things besides be with their children 24x7 has been a featur
by closeparen 5y ago
Spreading child-supervision duties around the extended family and community so parents can do other things besides be with their children 24x7 has been a feature of many human cultures for many thousands of years.
- kelnos 5y agoRight, but the times they are a'changin', and many people don't live within reasonable distance of extended family anymore. We can throw up our hands and either say a) stop moving away from your extended family, b) deal with the struggle, or c) don't have kids. Or we can use our big brains and try to figure out a better way for everyone to live where/how they want, but also be able to raise kids in a loving, supportive environment where the parents can still get a break sometimes. I don't know what that better way is, but I think it's pretty fatalistic and defeatist to assume it doesn't exist.
- closeparen 5y agoThere's a huge space of professional and community childcare options other than "extended family" and "don't have kids". That the dual-income middle class has been using for decades.