PG (Parental Guidance Advised)

@ @ Belinda # 21, well said, and thank you. As a stepmum, I was astounded by Belinda's comment and only hope she actually didn't mean to be as harsh as it sounded. My heart went out to her husband his children and their mother.

The V word is just like the use of the N word. Politically speaking, we are just not meant to go there.

pinwheel #62 there a big difference between a ‘housewife’ and a fulltime mother. It is one thing to be a ‘housewife’ (and who can afford that these days unless you’re in Remuera happily married to Mr CEO) and quite another to be a fulltime mother, there with your children when they need you, for their early years. I am not advocating that women never have a career, and it’s sure as heck any little girl growing up these days has got to be realistic enough to realise that that’s not going to happen unless she manages to win the lottery, but I don’t think that it’s unreasonable that once a woman has a child she makes a few sacrifices for them in those important early years, whether that’s being at home full time for a few years or working part-time with home-based childcare And there is nothing ‘secure’ or dependable about having to go to school when you’re sick because mum/dad can’t get time off work, and being shuffled around during the school holidays. Nor is there anything secure for the younger ones in being cared for full-time by a variety of different impartial carers within a large group, or being torn between the two parents when inevitably this attempt to keep up with the Joneses (whether enforced or by choice) results in the parents splitting up. Admirable it may seem for a little girl to grow up seeing Mummy juggle parenting with playing highflying lawyer or doctor, girls these days have more than enough role models to know that women can ‘do it all’ – to the detriment, I might add, of men, but that is a different story