Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!know!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: correll@brahms.udel.edu (Sharon J Correll) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Should a wife work outside the home? Message-ID: Date: 25 Oct 90 07:18:57 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of Delaware Lines: 29 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu My biggest question about working mothers is this: Who is going to raise the kids? Now I'm pretty open-minded about "radical" arrangements like house husbands or maybe something where both parents work part-time and share the house-keeping and childcare. I really don't see anything unscriptural about that. But the Bible says that parents are to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, teach the scripture, etc. To me, putting kids in day-care 8-10 hours a day 5 days a week is essentially hiring someone to raise your kids. There's just no way that you can have the input into your child's character in those formative years that you need to have when you aren't the primary care-taker. And I could no more hire someone to raise my kids for me than I could hire someone to go to church for me. It's MY job, MY duty before God. NOBODY else can do it, no matter how fine and loving a person they are. Now I'm talking about parents of young children working full-time. Mothers working part-time doesn't seem so bad to me if they have good child care that is consistent with the family's principles, etc. For instance, I think child-care by family members (grandmothers, aunts, etc.) is ideal because that's what the extended family is all about. But not even that full-time. Also as kids get older I would see it as less of a problem, although I've heard people say that young teenagers need supervision and access to Mom and Dad as much as the little ones. Also a part-time business at home is sort of a nice idea. -- ---\ Sharon Correll \--------------- ----\ University of Delaware \-------------- -----\ Academic Computing and Instructional Technology \------------- ------\ correll@sun.acs.udel.edu \------------