Has this been discussed? Controversial article.

[emilyinchile]

Jan 7, 2013 18:55:57 GMT -5 @champagna said:

The woman is a train wreck and I find it hard to take her seriously.

I used to follow her and found some of her career articles interesting, but reading about her divorce, homeschooling her kids and domestic violence situation w/ her current husband and her decision to stay with him was just too much for me.

I agree with all this (obviously, because it's factually true), but I still enjoy her articles.

I know you can pick and choose studies to make pretty much any point, but I think there is something to be said for the numbers, studies and research most of Penelope's more controversial posts are based on. I don't think that means we should all follow her suggestions blindly, but I do think it's interesting and potentially helpful to look at some of what she says.

For example, she says women should have kids early, then just start careers later rather than doing what many of us do which is work really hard in our 20s, think we've left a good foundation to have kids in our 30s, and then find ourselves in our late 30s either stagnant because we've kept working but aren't dedicating 100% to the office or struggling to get back into the workforce after time off. That hasn't made me decide to have kids right now because there are other factors, but I do think it's interesting and potentially helpful to some people to hear some of these situations. Even if you don't change your plans, it can help you better prepare and manage your expectations to help you avoid being part of the majority if that's not where you want to be.

[kershnic]

Jan 8, 2013 1:34:13 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

I'm not surprised virtually all would pick p/t over f/t. Hell, I'd pick that without kids!

I was just coming in to say that. I think a lot of the men I know would also want to work p/t (even without kids) if they really had the choice. So it's no surprise that a lot of people don't love working f/t!

Also, especially when thinking about my future children, I'd rather have a regular old job than a "big" job (though admittedly I'd rather stay home, even though that probably won't be possible), so her premise that you have to be a CEO doesn't really make much sense.

[gibbinator]

This article makes me glad to live in a VLCOL area.

We're definitely on the other side of her statistics. If we ever divorce, it will be because dh is working full-time, taking care of all the house stuff when he's home, shares parenting when he's home, and resents me for my lazy ways. I am working on being less lazy.