Chinese kids start learning younger than the UK's and are smarter on average. Guess we're doing it right, Europe's doing it wrong, and Mumsnet are a bunch of idiots.
Nothing we didn't already know really
Genuine Concern or Lazy Mums?
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Chinese kids start learning younger than the UK's and are smarter on average. Guess we're doing it right, Europe's doing it wrong, and Mumsnet are a bunch of idiots.
Nothing we didn't already know really
Not really weirder, we do exactly the same as you but just 4 months earlier, so by the end of school all students in same year are 16 as well.
So not really sure what your point is here
Well, for one thing, running school years in line with calendar years means that at the end of year 12, everyone in year can go out and enjoy a legal drink.
Here, some unlucky buggers get shafted by 4 months
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_student_performanceChinese kids start learning younger than the UK's and are smarter on average. Guess we're doing it right, Europe's doing it wrong, and Mumsnet are a bunch of idiots.
Nothing we didn't already know really
If we want to use maths as a baseline (it removes cultural bias pretty well).
China 600
1 Singapore 562
2 Hong Kong 555
3 South Korea 546
4 Taiwan 543
5 Finland 541
6 Liechtenstein 536
7 Switzerland 534
8 Japan 529
9 Canada 527
10 Netherlands 526
11 Macao 511
12 New Zealand 519
13 Belgium 515
14 Australia 514
15 Germany 513
16 Estonia 512
17 Iceland 507
18 Denmark 503
19 Slovenia 512
20 Norway 498
21 France 497
22 Slovakia 490
23 Austria 494
-
OECD average 496
24 Poland 495
25 Sweden 494
26 Czech Republic 500
27 United Kingdom 492
We are below the OECD average of 496
Can't be that bad, my mum raised 2 kids while working a 40 hour week (sometimes more) with my dad working 70-80 hours a week. No childcare except grandparents on weekends, just making it all fit round the raising the kids aspect.
Soldato
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What do you consider to be difficult about being a stay at home mother? Domestic chores are not at all difficult, and there is rarely enough in the average house to occupy someone full time. So I can only assume that it's the childcare aspect you consider to be difficult.
Obviously raising a child is challenging, but one would imagine it's more difficult to raise a child when you've a part-time or full-time job. It's certainly no easier for the father who goes out and works a full time job, then comes home and does chores and assists in child care.
That's because we don't teach maths properly in this country any more. (And I say that about my own education). Not about age, it's about trying to do "one size fits all" into the majority of subjects, and it doesn't work as different people learn in different ways (not to mention the dumbing down of taught mathematics).
Also, when some of you forumites actually have kids, perhaps you'll see the amount of work that actually goes into looking after kids. You don't get a break, your life is dedicated to them, and if you think stay-at-home mum's have an 'easy' time, you are only kidding yourself. I'm no fan of mumsnet, but your mocking of what you have never experienced is amazing (some of the 'outrage' for simple things on here is hysterical and makes mumsnet look sane). Basically grow up, and stop repeating crap because you think it's cool.
It's also amazing to see how those that are bashing SAH Mum's/Dad are focussing on the parent, and not thinking about the child. The time spent with their parent learning and experiencing new things. Perhaps most people can only think of SAH mum's as benefit scroungers?
It's called assumption, on your part.
Also, when some of you forumites actually have kids, perhaps you'll see the amount of work that actually goes into looking after kids. You don't get a break, your life is dedicated to them, and if you think stay-at-home mum's have an 'easy' time, you are only kidding yourself. I'm no fan of mumsnet, but your mocking of what you have never experienced is amazing (some of the 'outrage' for simple things on here is hysterical and makes mumsnet look sane). Basically grow up, and stop repeating crap because you think it's cool.
It's also amazing to see how those that are bashing SAH Mum's/Dad are focussing on the parent, and not thinking about the child. The time spent with their parent learning and experiencing new things. Perhaps most people can only think of SAH mum's as benefit scroungers?
It's called assumption, on your part.
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There's a huge difference between "childcare" - sticking them in front of cbeebies and keeping an eye on them every 5 mins to make sure they aren't trying to kill themselves, and "childcare" - actively taking part in their lives and engaging them in learning activities, getting them out and about and encouraging their development. I'll give you a clue, one of them is a lot harder and more challenging...
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well hot housing was knowing 4,5,6 languages by 12 reciting loads of poems by heart, knowing a lot of classical history, some geography and quite a bit of maths aswell as music etc etc (depends on what the focus was)
They did have a tendency to go insane, and I think advanced maths is worse for it than say knowing a more practical thing like kayaking or one language.
kids should be taught young but not really academic things and definitely not trying to reach "standards" (exams)
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You completely glazed over the reductio ad absurdum point I made before, and it would have answered your question if you'd comprehended it.
Simply put, childcare and stay at home parent isn't as easy as A,B,C. And you seem to think it is.
You seem to think looking after a child and doing chores is as simple as that, how about doing chores while your child doesnt want you to leave the room? How about if on this particular day your child is ill? What if on this particular day your child decides she doesnt want to eat anything? What if you need to purchase something and on this particular day your child is being stressy and doesn't want to leave the house? Now throw in any number of other points\possibilities. And all the while run the house, and keep the children happy. Lets add another child into the mix? perhaps a pet? perhaps a visitor?
Basically. On the days that looking after the child is, Wake up, feed child, change child, watch child, child sleeps, do chores. Yeah, It'll be easy.
I imagine you've never experienced child care though if you feel that's what it's like on a daily basis.
When I go to work, I'm there to do a job. I'm a professional, and I find it's generally business as usual. No surprises, or rare surprises
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Soldato
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i come to work for a rest!
depends on the job. im an IT manager and developer now and while its sometimes mentally taxing, its nothing compared to running around with a 2 year old all the time. i was off with my son last week and i needed to come back to work to relax!
then again im 38 so not as young and fit as i once was. plus i have a dodgy knee and back issues.
but being a dad is a million times more rewarding than working.
Soldato
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You're describing a storm in a teacup. As I've already said, running a house is not very difficult at all and domestic chores would occupy little more than a few hours per week. When it's time to do chores, you put the child in a play-pen or crib. If the kid screams, so what? You are nearby to make sure they are not coming to any harm. Not to mention they'll spend a good few hours sleeping anyway. A disobedient or upset child is par of course, you're going to have to handle them whether you're a stay-at-home mother/father or not. Do you think it's any easier to have that after a hard days work in a factory, office or similar?
I've no doubt some days are a physical drain, but on balance it's far easier to be a full time mother/father than to juggle a job, parenthood and chores as most people have to do these days.
Oh and if a pet is making it harder, get rid of the pet. Problem solved.
Soldato
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You really haven't spent much time around kids, have you?
I was one.
/points & laughs.
There would be no problem to solve if they never bought one in the first place.
Wait till you're financially set up before having kids? Or am I missing something here?
I wouldn't dream of having kids before being able to at least plan and budget for childcare costs. At the very least.
Op have you got kids if so do you spend time with them? I'm gonna say no you haven't because there is nothing easy about caring for your children and every dad I know was more than glad to get back to work after paternity leave, kids are energy vampires and master attention seekers, mine owe me thousands of hours of lost sleep.
I'm with the moms on the education point too.
I'm with the moms on the education point too.
I do agree to some extent. But what about the case of poorly educated parents? How is a parent who only speaks one language going to teach their child a second language to a good standard?
Let's assume that said poorly educated person is also a low earner, and can't afford private tuition.
The whole reason we have schools is to provide a good, varied education that your average parent cannot. In theory this is supposed to be available to all children (but we know in practice state run schools are not nearly as good as private schools).
If I have my daughter for a few days or a week (I work full-time) It's pretty easy really. More to the point, It's enjoyable because I'm spending time with my daughter. It's far easier than going to work, even though I don't mind my job at all (10 years so far). I think to say that it's hard, you would have to be comparing it to sitting at home doing nothing and no child to look after. If someone doing this says "I can't just drop everything and go out somewhere" etc, well, I can't either love, when I'm at work. If you compared sitting at home with no responsibilities to being at home and looking after a child then yes it is harder.
In reflection, If I was a child minder and looking after 3-4 kids that weren't mine, yes I would find that hard work and a huge amount of responsibility, just like I do working in general.
In reflection, If I was a child minder and looking after 3-4 kids that weren't mine, yes I would find that hard work and a huge amount of responsibility, just like I do working in general.