If you grew up with a stay at home parent, have you ever resented the stay at home parent for not returning to the work force once the children no longer lived in the house hold and why?

12 comments

1. No why would I? I feel like that’s really not any of my business.

2. Oh god no. I was so close with my stay at home dad.

3. No, that is none of my business.

4. My father has always done well and has been the only household income my entire life. He worked my entire childhood with poor schedules and unrealistic work loads to this day. It makes me angry that she in the last 10 years since i have moved out she has never tried to financially help in building the life that they want. But really enjoys spending the money he makes. He is getting older now and he’s still trying to work as he did when he was younger trying to maintaining there lifestyle and I’m having a hard time justifying my feelings about it as i shouldn’t care but i do.

5. Of course not. Why would I? It’s none of my business.

6. Yes. Only because my mom never returned back to work and my parents struggled severely. My dad is now almost 60 and works a very labor demanding job 50-65 hours a week, outside in the desert and my mom still won’t get a job. So yeah it was hard not to resent her over not caring how hard my dad work and going without because she wouldn’t work.

7. No. While he wasn’t a SAHD my whole childhood, any negative feelings I have about my dad aren’t related to him staying home.

8. Resented them for not returning to the workforce? No. Not at all. Hated the fact that they were super overprotective and helicoptery? Allllllll the time.

9. [removed]

10. Not in the slightest. She sacrificed her whole career so she could give me the most loving childhood possible

11. No. My mom kept the house clean, fed us incredible meals, and was always there for us if we needed transportation for sports, school, etc. I’m sure it was a hard job for her at the time but she busted her butt for us to be comfortable in a different way besides money. When all us kids were older she went back to work. Truthfully, that was the part that was hard for me.

12. >once the children no longer lived in the house

    Depending on how many children there are, and their age span, it may not be possible to find much in the way of well-paying work after the children move out, if a person has been out of the workforce 20+ years.

    My mom was 53 when the last of us moved out, and hadn’t worked outside the home since she was 23-24. It may be just our location, but not a lot of companies are eager to hire someone at that age, who has been out of the workforce for decades, for a decent salary. Around here, that’s the age companies start letting people go, and hiring younger people who will work for less.

    If she didn’t drink so much, she might be able to find and keep some minimum wage or entry level work. With her drinking, finding and keeping work, any work, no matter what our ages, would have been a pretty big task anyway.