by Lisa Shaver

Created on: February 18, 2009   Last Updated: February 26, 2009

In today's economy it is hard to raise a family with or without a dual income. We hear all the horror stories and the "experts" who tell us that if we send our children to daycare we are essentially signing them to be a statistic by ending up in a gang or worse, jail. There are people out there, and yes some are mothers privileged to stay home, who will look down on the mom who works and not even bother to hear her story. They are simply put into a category that more degrading than being a criminal.

Is putting our children in daycare really the most deadly sin we can commit? The answer quite simply is no. As a single mother I do not like sending my child to daycare. I would rather be home watching him learn all the wonders of his little world like I was able to do with his three older siblings. Circumstances being what they are, I have to work. Yes I work from home as a freelance writer and virtual assistant, but I also have a job that takes me away from the home to help pay the bills and my little one has to go to daycare. Look out world, here comes the next gun toting, drug snorting gang member in a few years!

Ask yourself this, would you rather teach your child to be responsible and do whatever it takes (within the perameters of the law of course) to take care of their family and sacrifice what may be important (like staying home), or would you rather teach your child its ok not to have supper once in awhile because mommy chose to stay home with you and can not afford to feed you dinner ever night? Personally I want to teach my daughters that doing the right thing may not always be the most enjoyable thing. It's certainly not always the most comfortable.

Next question, are you irresponsible because you have children but can not afford to stay home with them? Certainly not. Maybe when your children were born you had the luxury like I did to stay home with the children. My older three children had the luxury of dad going to work and mom being home full time. However, things change. Whether it be because the changing economy has made it impossible for you to stay home even if you downgrade your life, or as with a lot of us single women who have to work, you get divorced. How does any of that make you irresponsible? Do we really want to teach our children to look down on a woman because she chose to have children and couldn't stay home? This is really just another from of prejudice that we are teaching our kids is ok. Some think it is not predjuice because they are not targeting a different race or religion, but single moms, working moms or moms who make less than minimum wage. Prejudice in any form is still prejudice and no matter how you name it, it's wrong.

Maternity leave should be available to any woman regardless of what position she holds. Sure it may cost a bit more, but what doesn't these days. Women regardles of whether she is a waitress or a lawyer should be allowed to have some paid time at home with their children otherwise what incentive do they have to work and not go on welfare, which by the way pays more than a waitressing job!

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