I traverse the city to work each morning, dodging wildly pushed prams by ballet slippered mums and suited dads with curly haired half pyjamas half jump-suited toddlers waiting impatiently in the cold to cross the road to child care before their big day in the office.
I’m cynical. Is sending these babies to daycare this early in life, so they can maintain their current latte lifestyle, living in the east or nearby?
It’s no secret that psychologically and socially, children are better off at home, within the care of either parent or close relative (at the very least) for the first two years of their life.
Sometimes you have to sacrifice parts of your life if you want children.
Baby bonuses weren’t something that inspired Dawn and I to have children, nor did we receive a payment for either mini man – between cut off dates and means testing.
Australia’s ageing population requires lots of mini people to be born, schooled, sent to work and be taxed so they can subsidise our $1 train fares across NSW when we are 120 years old. Hence the original intention of the bonuses.
Considering parents didn’t lobby government for baby bonuses to being with, I think it’s an interesting comment some people make about it coming off the recent budget.
Dawn and I committed to having the boys at home for the first two years minimum of their lives, then their grandmother looked after them interspersed with pre school. We paid our own way and reduced our lattes – every during splitting up.
You want kids, you pay for them. You send them to early day care, you pay the price of creating a potentially isolated and less family unit oriented society.
On the other hand, I could be wrong, these parents might be just making a go of it, and buying less lattes too. Who the hell cares – we need to focus on bigger fish in the sea.
