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Donna in MO's avatar

I bought it growing up in the 70's hook line and sinker. But having kids changed all that. Boys eat their peanut butter sandwiches into the shape of a gun. When my daughter wanted my son to play barbies with her, he cried out 'tornado' and trashed the barbie house. My daughter was tomboy-~ish, loved climbing trees, playing in mud and wearing frilly dresses. Boys and girls ARE different. Trying to be a career woman and mom was exhausting and unsatisfying. I jumped off the train for lower ambitions and cooking dinner at home at night. Hubby would do it but he sucked at cooking, frankly. Oh it took some compromising and re-defining who does what and when all the arm wrestling was over we found that golden middle between tradwife and femi-nazi (Rush Limbaugh term) worked for us. And we had better dinners than chips and salsa and frozen burritos, lol.

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Debra's avatar

Ditto! We also added in that we were not going to say everything we think! We did that for 40 years and were happy the majority of that time! Widowhood has been a big adjustment for me because now I say everything I think here on C&C and Facebook.

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RunningLogic's avatar

Similar situation here. I knew I would be bad at working full time and trying to be a mother, and also really didn’t want to put my kids in daycare. So I worked part time with limited hours, to use my degree and skills and earned a little extra money for us although it was a pittance compared to what my husband earned. I have no regrets and feel blessed that I was able to do both to some extent. Having home-cooked dinners and me being present to take care of homework (now homeschool), go to activities and keep the house in order were more important to me than a lot of extra money or a full blown career. My husband will pitch in where necessary and when I need extra time for work he is always willing to do whatever is necessary.

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Kenpowoman's avatar

That's exactly what happened to me -- I was a professional in the high-tech world and a feminist... then I met the man who became my husband and we had a son. He was 13 months old when he took a bite out of a saltine cracker and pointed it and made "pew pew" noises... all without ever having been exposed to anything resembling a gun yet. I looked at my husband and said, "I give up," and I never looked back.

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Tim's avatar

I was in Kindergarten when The Monkees debuted on TV. I’m pretty sure I chewed my toast into the general shape of a Gretsch. I do recall the nun who taught me in catechism being confused when I kept drawing Christ and the disciples with giant Afro haircuts and guitars.

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JW's avatar

So funny. Kids change your perspective on absolutely everything. Im betting a good percentage of the right wingers are not parents or at least hands on parents.

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Donna in MO's avatar

Right wingers or left wingers?

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