Life /
Problems for Dual Earner Families in Poland (and rest of EU) [19]
Do bear in mind that in the past (one hundred or more years ago), either both parents worked (eg they were peasants or labourers, or the husband owned a business and the wife helped out, or the wife would work as cook or seamstress or charwoman with the husband mining or whatever), in which case younger children were looked after by their older siblings or other relatives, or if the parents belonged to the upper classes, they did not work, and delegated childcare to nannies, governesses, teachers, and other domestic staff. In both cases, children were never the focus, be-all and end-all of a family. They were expected to grow up as soon as possible, and join the adults in their world of either work or intellectual and leisure pastimes, depending on the family's income. So I think that dual earner families in the modern sense of the world are not functioning properly because:
1) it is a two-tier structure only, with parents caring for children, no extended family usually involved, and all the work and care going one way - from parents to children, and
2) instead of "bringing children
up" - helping them grow into adults - most parents nowadays seem hell-bent on being their children's "best friends", thus losing authority and the chance to teach them anything useful for later life, also
3) as the children grow, they are not expected to assume any responsibility for the family and its well-being: "it is enough that they do well at school".
Overall, I think the stay-at-home Happy Mom is a myth created in the 50s. Women havenever before been so isolated and left to their own devices with only a couple of toddlers for company. Been there, done that, never ever again.
