Getting Paid For Living Life Essay

Getting Paid for Living Life How would you like to be a stay at home parent and get paid for it? Being paid for doing everyday house work, sounds ridiculous doesn’t it, because it is. Having a stay at home parent is something families choose to do; while one stays home the other maintains a job. Raising children and keeping up on chores is something that comes along with those responsibilities. As the government isn’t already in enough debt, who would pay a parent while they do their housework. Even though many people have been writing about this issue in the New York Times, I believe it’s a bad idea to pay people for housework. Wages for housework is where one of the parents or guardians stay home while they would take care of their children and follow through on housework. By paying this individual, many are presuming that both adults don’t already have better paying jobs. People believe this stay at home parent should be paid to help raise their own kids and take care of their own house; two things which they will already do without wages. Although this would give the family more time with their children, it would also cause many more problems.
To
start off with a problem, one is expecting one of the family members to not have a job, or to quit their job. While they raise their kids and maintain housework, what happens when the kids turn eighteen and move on to college or out of the house? Any retirement funds or advantages one would get or receive for working over a long period of time will not have as great of an impact. What happens once the kid moves out? Does the stay at home parent make less since they are just taking care of the house and not the kid anymore? By working less than 40 hours a week, one would still have time to manage their at home activities, but can also hold a job and still earn some of the benefits of working. Like the executive director and chief economist at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, I agree with Heather Boushey as she says, “If everybody were to put in 30 or 35 hours a week, then there would be enough time to not only do well at work but also do some of those chores at home.”
When growing up, people don’t realize all the stuff parents do for their kids.
The older they get the more and more kids start thanking their parents for the things they do. Now imagine all the good times people have had while with their parents. Would they be the same if they knew their parents were getting paid to do this for them? Some believe that if the children knew the things their parents do for them are because they are getting paid, they wouldn’t have as strong of a bond. Many people that didn’t have much money or wealth growing up always revert back to one thing, family. As Milad Doroudian, a writer, columnist and historian, and senior editor of The Art of Polemics magazine says in simplest form, “What is the true value of housework? The prospect of seeing your children grow up, healthy and
happy.”
As a Law Professor at the University of California Los Angeles, Noah Zatz stated, “Devaluing housework for one’s own family also means discounting its importance when done by others.” (Zatz)
This being said, if they are willing to pay wages for housework to anyone that wants to stay at home, they force people out of jobs. Many people work as nannies or maids for a living. By taking these job away from some families you are just putting more and more people to lean on the government for support.
In recent discussions of wages for housework, a controversial issue has been whether the women would actually care for and clean as much as she is getting paid worth. On one hand, some argue that the women wouldn’t clean any more hours than she already does and hold the “stay at home” tag as just an extra income. On the other hand, however, others argue that the women would raise the kids and keep up with housework and chores much more than needed. According to this view, the responsibility is all up to the women. Then the issue is whether or not the women would spend as more time on housework than they already do. My own view is that the women wouldn’t spend more time on housework than they already does. I feel as if they would hold a job and use the housework wages as a second income for the family. Though I concede that some women will put time and effort towards their house and family, I still maintain that there will be some people that just sit on the income. Although some might object that, I would reply with saying there is many people collecting federal and government help that are just too lazy to get a job. The issue is important because we are paying these women to do something we have nothing to monitor their works and efforts by. In conclusion, spending more time at home for this parent isn’t going to change anything. The cleanliness that the family likes and accept their house to be, will be what it is no matter if there is a stay at home parent in the house or not. It shouldn’t take over 40 hours a week to clean and care for kids and home as if it was to be considered a full time job.

Works Cited
Boushey, Heather. "A Better Solution to Household Chores: Work-Family Balance." Room for Debate. New York Times, 9 Sept. 2014. Web. 28 Sept. 2014.
Doroudian, Milad. "Give Women Equitable Opportunity in the Public Sphere." Room for Debate. New York Times, 9 Sept. 2014. Web. 28 Sept. 2014.
Zatz, Noah. "Taking Unpaid Housework for Granted Is Wrong." Room for Debate. New York Times, 9 Sept. 2014. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.