Stay at home dad's. is the public opinion changing?

[Mr Hardware]

BENT 8, I'm sad to hear that the 'interview' that you had to endure with Centrelink was just someone else's anecdotal opinion being shoved down your throat. Stand your ground.

My anecdote: My wife's mum always worked. When my wife's dad was out of work, my wife describes them as the best times of her childhood.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by Mr Hardware

BENT 8, I'm sad to hear that the 'interview' that you had to endure with Centrelink was just someone else's anecdotal opinion being shoved down your throat. Stand your ground.

My anecdote: My wife's mum always worked. When my wife's dad was out of work, my wife describes them as the best times of her childhood.

Thanks mate,
The ironic thing about the 'interview' is that it was portrayed to me as a voluntary appointment to discuss my future plans and to see if they could direct me to some play groups or support groups. I jumped at the opportunity to see what was on offer.
The Government currently offers a number of subsidised courses which I was keen to find out about to aid me when im back in the job search market.

Unfortunately i never got to discuss these points of interest with her.

On a brighter note, Maggie, my daughter, and I, spent the first half of the day in the carport vacuuming mums daily and doing a general tidy up.
We then did two loads of washing which she helps with by handing me the pegs, albeit soaking wet with dribble...lol
I must have tired her out as she is taking a nap now.

[Crazy Dazz]

Like anything, it is whatever works for the couple concerned.
For an example; I know a few couples where the woman is the dominate personality, and provided the bloke is happy to go along, then they have a happy marriage.
For most of history, fiscally more able men have been marrying beautiful woman who were as dumb as mud. I don’t know what women look for in a man, but why can’t the opposite also be true? There are lots of highly successful women in industry and the professions, and if they are married to a bloke who doesn’t earn near as much, and he’s happy to take that role, then it makes sense.
Don’t even have to be “professionals” either. There are some women in mining and construction who are earning big dollars alongside the men, if her hubby can’t get such a role, thenj they may be better off with him staying home.
Don’t get me wrong, I think that women are USUALLY better suited to the role (more patient, nurturing, etc, etc) but that's not always the case.

Let’s also not forget that some families have no choice. I knew a couples where mum had to go back to work, after dad got horribly burnt at work. Greta bloke, did everything for his kids, was always the first person to volunteer even though he was in almost constant pain. His work options were really limited, but mum was a registered nurse and so was able to go straight back to work.

[Crazy Dazz]

As for Centrelink, yeah it’s unbelievable. When I went back to study fulltime, in those days we needed to get austudy, a partners allowance, and then family assistance from DSS. For some reason there was a delay in my austudy, and we couldn’t get the DSS money until the austudy approval came through. We were advised by austudy to go to DSS and have my wife apply of unemployment benefit. We encountered unbelievable hostility, and got called in for special interviews with the higher ups. They would not accept that my wife was legitimately unemployed because she was a MOTHER. They refused to accept that if she got a job, that I would care for the kids. In the end my mother (who lived next-door) had to come in for an interview and sign a stat Dec that SHE would mind the kids.