Intact families are entitled to make lifestyle CHOICES to spend more time with their family and perhaps take a somewhat less intense, more flexible job so that we are more availbale to our kids.
Sometimes the few years in our youth is our ONLY opportunity to spend time with our kids. MY dad was deceased by the time my sister was 12. Frankly, I'm happy my dad prioritized his life to be AVAILABLE to take and do with us while he could. We did ok financially, but not nearly what he could have made if he had been working all the time like some of my peer's dads. And guess what? I don't think any more money would have given me a better and happier childhood- so what if my mom bought our clothes off clearance racks instead of chasing to Chicago like some of my peer's moms? So what if I had the same old bike from childhood and then it got passed on to my sister? So what if I could not afford to be in ski club like some classmates were? So what.... if I learned that my parent's put TIME with us doing things as a greater priority than money and stuff??
My point? Children are not necessarilly gaining the most by overemphasizing the maximum monetary cash flow as the ultimate "best interest" of the child. A nice life can be achieved even if we don't make every dollar we maybe could. Thank goodness my household has that choice, because we are together.
After a certain level is achieved, one should be able to ease off and enjoy their children and time together! After all, isn't that WHY we become parents? It's why I did, there was no point in jumping through all those hoops to have her if we weren't going to be around for her.
