Rising Anti-Child Movement...Parents BE AWARE

[Hercules10]

Originally posted by cats mom
I do think it is our responsibility as a member of society to help pay for the education system, whether or not we personally use it.

OK, convince me why it's MY repsonsibility to educate other people's children. We agree that there are tax dollars that don't get spent the way we want it. But that's not the question. The taxes I pay for schools are the largest chunk o change I pay and I don't have kids.

I'm sorry. I'm not wanting to pick fights. But the whole argument that I'm investing in our society's future generation is a cop-out. I'm stuffing my mattress for retirement. Which when I retire will go into the pockets of the kids I'm helping to edumacate now. Which will then flow into funding the care of their parents. I'm getting double-dinged here cause I don't have kids!

I didn't have fun conceiving them. I don't cloth, house or feed them. Why should I pay for their schooling? Especially when I miss out on the fun of beating them over the head to get them to do their homework like my mother did. T'aint fair!

 

[Planogirl]

Society presumably does things to help itself. Part of that society is children and one of the ways it helps that part is through education. The powers that be have chosen property taxes as the primary means for funding education. Out of curiosity, any other suggestions?

 

[disneydragon]

Originally posted by Hercules10

I didn't have fun conceiving them. I don't cloth, house or feed them. Why should I pay for their schooling? Especially when I miss out on the fun of beating them over the head to get them to do their homework like my mother did. T'aint fair! [/B]

Hercules10, you are too funny....

 

[Hercules10]

Originally posted by Planogirl
Out of curiosity, any other suggestions?

Yup...howz about everyone who has a child is required to pay for their education.

Wonder if the IRS will let me claim a deduction for every child I help educate? That should help my refund.

 

[The Duchess]

A few points...

For the people complaining about their taxes paying for schools,
I'm sure when you were in school, there were childless people in your town paying taxes for YOUR school.
That said, my DS goes to private school (necessary because our school's are lousy, although in my town we pay one of the highest property taxes in the state of MASS) So where's MY refund. I'm not utilizing the public schools.

The government rewards marriage and parenthoos because the government wants STABILITY (and the creation of more taxpayers) in this country, not chaos.
Families provide stability. I know people will start quoting divorce rates, but the basic premise on stability remains the same.

Where I work, a large majority of the workers are working mothers. MOST would rather not be there, but need the health insurance or the money. SOME of the mother abuse their time, "working from home" which I don't buy. You can't work with a child under 12 running around.
So, I'm quitting my job this summer, rather than try to formulate some juggled, bizarre work schedule around my child. I personally don't think it's fair to my work, or my child, to try to work from home. I'm glad that I have the option to leave my job.

 

[C.Ann]

I hate to be crass - but why is anyone surprised by this movement? You have "special interest" groups changing laws all across the country - from smoking to owning guns to removing the word Christmas from school activities..

The door was opened when any one of these special interest agendas was okayed and now when it hits a specific area that specifically annoys a certain segment of the population, everyone is up in arms..

Could any of you honestly not see these sort of things coming?
Open the door and you're open for all sorts of discrimination....

 

[Hercules10]

Originally posted by The Duchess
For the people complaining about their taxes paying for schools,I'm sure when you were in school, there were childless people in your town paying taxes for YOUR school.

So what's your point? Wasn't fair to them back then either.

Matter-o-fact if my over-burdened, under-staffed memory serves me correctly. In Maryland you did pay directly to the school on a child per child basis. I remember my parents praising the system because it was like private school.

 

[The Duchess]

Who ever said life was fair?

 

[Karel]

Originally posted by Hercules10

Even though we pay school taxes, we have no say in the edumacashun system. Why? Becasue we don't have kids.

Maybe it's different where you are but here you can vote for your school board members. You can go to the school board meetings. Write your government about school issues.

 

[Hercules10]

Originally posted by Karel
Maybe it's different where you are but here you can vote for your school board members. You can go to the school board meetings. Write your government about school issues.

I hear what your saying Karel. But I mean getting the children to do their homework and push them a little harder. Like my parents did.

I can't do anything about the parents who allow their children to play Nintendo at the sacrifice of their school work (Which I helped pay for).

 

[The Duchess]

Face it, basic biology dictates that MOM has to be the one who gets pregnant. Sooo, short of stopping the human race, what would people like working moms to do? Women might as well never even start working because they might someday have children.
I don't understand the concept that if Mom#1 has to leave early because her child is sick, then Singleperson#1 gets to leave early too. Huh?
I work part time and get part time pay. I don't work part time and get full time pay, so why does anyone care? My benefits and vacation are all prorated to my hours of work. If I leave work early, I either have to make up that time, or use sick time. So, then I have less sick time. Just like if Singleperson#1 got sick and left work. I don't get double sick time because I have a child.
IF there's a company offering that benefit, please let me know.
There is NO COMPANY in this country that wants WORKING MOMS SCREWING UP the work schedule. They just pretend to not mind because it's PC. We ALL know this. We just shut up and pray that we get to keep our flexible schedules.

 

[CajunDixie]

I don't understand the concept that if Mom#1 has to leave early because her child is sick, then Singleperson#1 gets to leave early too. Huh?

The point is some workplaces pay by salary and not hourly. And in some of the places the childless employees are expected to fill in for those with children leaving early or calling in because of problems such as a sick child. Or those who want to spend holidays at home with their children....childless employees enjoy holidays too. Just because a person doesnt have children does not mean they have no life outside of their workplace and should not be expected to constantly fill in for those who do have children. Sort of like when I was at my last job a smoking break seemed to be the in thing......while I, one of the few non-smokers, had to keep things going and they still got paid to go smoke. So I started going outside with the smokers and chewing bubblegum and blowing bubbles......granted my smoking boss was not amused but he got the point that I was not there to do everyones jobs while they went out for a smoke. Nor do I expect a childless person to do my job when things come up.

When I wasn't working everyone assumed I should do all the errands and work for the 2 organizations I am involved in. Hearing "Ohhh you don't have a job so can you do yada yada?" got real old, real fast!

 

[TDC Nala]

How would you feel, if you were always asked to stay at work a little longer,expected to be the one who traveled(cuz you have no kids),asked to do some work

I love it, they pay me extra to do that stuff.

I also get the same flex time options that everybody else is eligible for. Parents have the option of using their time off to go to the kid's school functions, or whatever. I have the option of using it to go run around Florida.

and I don't much like the term "childfree." It sounds too much like "fat free" or "germ free," which means they're missing something bad. There's nothing bad about children. I'm childless, and there's nothing bad about that either.

And the taxes are too high for EVERYTHING around here.

 

[Hagred]

Originally posted by CajunDixie
The point is some workplaces pay by salary and not hourly. And in some of the places the childless employees are expected to fill in for those with children leaving early or calling in because of problems such as a sick child. Or those who want to spend holidays at home with their children....childless employees enjoy holidays too.

Exactly. I'm salaried just like my co-workers, therefore if one person takes two hours off, two days a week during the school year, I'd like a little of that, too. (This four hours doesn't come out of sick pay or vacation pay) The occasional emergency or doctor's visit doesn't bother me one little bit.

But it's darn frustrating that "I want to spend time with my family" is a better reason for leaving work early than "I want to spend time at the beach or skiing". Especially if "spending time with my family" is time spent at the beach or skiing while I'm there covering for them.

 

[edcrbnsoul]

I don't use alot of the sidewalks downtown should I have to pay for those, and what about the traffic lights in the sections of town I dont drive through, I dont use the beach in my town pond or the wading pool....gee I think my town owes me alot of money!

 

[CEDmom]

Originally posted by The Duchess
A few points...

For the people complaining about their taxes paying for schools,
I'm sure when you were in school, there were childless people in your town paying taxes for YOUR school.
That said, my DS goes to private school (necessary because our school's are lousy, although in my town we pay one of the highest property taxes in the state of MASS) So where's MY refund. I'm not utilizing the public schools.

The government rewards marriage and parenthoos because the government wants STABILITY (and the creation of more taxpayers) in this country, not chaos.
Families provide stability. I know people will start quoting divorce rates, but the basic premise on stability remains the same.

Where I work, a large majority of the workers are working mothers. MOST would rather not be there, but need the health insurance or the money. SOME of the mother abuse their time, "working from home" which I don't buy. You can't work with a child under 12 running around.
So, I'm quitting my job this summer, rather than try to formulate some juggled, bizarre work schedule around my child. I personally don't think it's fair to my work, or my child, to try to work from home. I'm glad that I have the option to leave my job.

I don't know who you work for or what their requirements are to allow employees work from home but at my company unsupervised children cannot be in the home during working hours. I regularly work from home and DD is at daycare when I do. My employer has documentation of this and can at any time do an unannounced home inspection to verify it. I don't know of any company that has a formal teleworking program that allows children to be at home w/o a caregiver other than the working parent. I actually get much more done because I am hooked up at home than I would if I solely worked in the office.

 

[The Duchess]

The point is some workplaces pay by salary and not hourly. And in some of the places the childless employees are expected to fill in for those with children leaving early or calling in because of problems such as a sick child

Wow, I wish I could earn the same Salary as my 40 hour coworkers and work 24 hours. That would be great! What company is this? I'm salaried....at 60% of what the 40-hour people earn.
Also, this great company lets you just leave and not use sick time?
WOW! What a perk.
News flash....most companies don't function this way, so stop kidding yourself. If I leave two hours early of an eight hour day, I have to take 2 hours sick time or make up 2 hours. Simple math.
And if you think it's not stressful to look at your caller ID and see it's your child's school calling, guess again. WMs do not HAPPILY rush out of the office to pick up sick children.

Plus I wasn't aware that my childless coworkers were actually in the office on holidays! They never mentioned that! Bummer!
If I choose to take an extended holiday, again, I use vacation time, thus I have LESS vacation time after that!
Other than my flexible schedule, which has kept me in this crappy underpaid job, I don't get any other perks for being a working mother. Sorry, but Maternity Leave in this country is UNPAID
The WMs I work with would love to work somewhere else, but the big fear is not being able to get that flex schedule, so we've all been afraid to leave. Plus, we've been at this job so long, the company lets us keep our flex schedules because it would take so long to train replacements.

I know for a fact people at work have their kids there...you can hear them in the background when you call. I think that's ridiculous.

 

[goofygirl]

a little late in joining the posting, but THANK YOU VERY MUCH to the original poster who posted this informative, refreshing article.

Those who see No Kidding as a "hate group" are those who just feel threatened by a lifestyle that is different than the one they are used to seeing.

Next year's No Kidding! National Convention will be HERE in my HOMETOWN of Philly , in 2005! You betcha I'll be there!

 

[The Duchess]

I don't believe I ever said I felt "threatened" by anyone's lifestyle.
Why would I care if someone had children or not?
Apparently, some of the people quoted in the article feel threatened by us "breeders."

In a culture often defined by breeders, those who dare not have children feel they must band together.

Huh?

They can have kids, they just don't want them. And they're fighting back.

Who are they fighting exactly? Us breeders? Our children?

There are even extreme political activists pushing a kid-free society, such as Somerville-based The Church of Euthanasia, launched in 1992 to try to persuade the world with guerrilla-style tactics to stop having babies.

Uh...wouldn't that be the end of the human race?

It's the end of your life if you have a kid," the 25-year-old bachelor says in an interview. "You can't do anything, you can't go anywhere. People ruin their lives by having kids, and then they try to ruin ours in theaters, or by clogging up both lanes of traffic in front of schools. I don't feel that the rest of society should be punished because they want to have children."

Okay, if that doesn't sound like someone being threatened by the Breeder lifestyle...what does?

The ranks of the child-free are growing. That means they will be talking -- and complaining. They will start mobilizing

Yikes! As a Breeder, I guess I should start packing sandbags around my house for protection.

The problem with society today is everyone wants THEIRS and to hell with everyone else. Everyone needs some cause or complaint so they can be angry at someone or something. Every minority wants their issue to be forced on everyone else.

People need to be responsible for their children. I had ONE and will not be having anymore, I took care of that medically. One is all I can afford to send to private school. I am responsible for his behavior in public.

Like someone said earlier in this post...Where are the herds of wild children running unsupervised that are bothering these people so much?

 

[Miss Jasmine]

I just don't get the complaints from those without children over the work issues. I leave work early some days because I am meeting DH and friends for dinner, or I am going to some special event. I even tell my boss that is why I am leaving. No problems. I am a salaried worker, and those couple hours do not come out of my vacation or sick time, but I subtract them from my Comp time (even though it is my own records). Why can't you leave early to do your own thing? I don't get it. Why do you get all upset at the parents if you don't do this or it's not allowed? It's not their fault. Talk to management, make some changes. Sheesh.

Maybe it's easier to just complain.