The worth of a homemaker

Seriously? You're equating meals at home at the average family with a gourmet chef? Would you pay someone $50,000 a year to feed your children breakfast cereal in the morning?

While there is true value to a stay at home mom, this article is ridiculous in the numbers they are using. A good nanny would provide many of these services for $20,0000-40,000 per year depending on whether you're looking for a foreign national US citizen.

I applaud the nature of the article but the numbers are just sensationalist in nature and seriously detract from the validity of the article.

After looking at some of the pictures connected with this story... most women would opt for the workforce!

I was very impressed by this excellent article, and as a stay-at-home mom, I totally disagree with o2bsenna who thought that the numbers were sensationalist in nature. I found them to be very realistic and practical. The truth is that a good nanny at any price can never replace the feelings a child receives from the day-to-day nurturing of one's own mother. I greatly enjoyed this collaborative effort of the two journalists who worked together to present such an accurate and realistic view of the many facets that being a homemaker/mother entails. With Hilary Rosen's recent demeaning and snide comment regarding stay-at-home Ann Romney as "never having a day in her life," the timing of this well-thought-out article is greatly appreciated by mothers who work harder than any attorney, doctor, or anyone else in the workforce. I once tended twin babies for a female attorney who confessed on many occasions that taking care of the babies was a million times harder than the challenges of being a successful attorney. Anyone who doubts this, should give it a try.

Caprice

I've done both. Stayed at home with my children until they were both in school. I was organized and in control. I had a clean house, happy children and time to play tennis with other moms.

When I went to work, there was hardly time to do everything. I still spent hours with my family, prepared for the next day at work and cleaned. Thank goodness I had a husband that could cook.

Much harder, in my opinion, to do both.

My stay-at-home wife did most of the heavy lifting in raising 5 mature, well-adjusted, self-reliant, productive adults. Two of them are doing the same in families of their own. I do not believe that you can put a price on that. Like the credit card ad says, such things are priceless. My wife and I are not the sole recipients of their prductivity; everyone they associate with benefits also. Money cannot buy that.