Editor's Notes
I have a friend who has been a parent now for many years. Being a parent is something she had always wanted to do, so she set about making this goal a reality right after high school. She married a man in the Armed Forces, and together they travelled overseas on peacekeeping duties. While on their assignments, she had three children.
In the intervening years, her husband has left the services, and the five of them live on a very modest income in a small community in BC. My friend stays home to look after her children, as she has always done, while her husband works repairing small appliances. The family wants for no essentials, but neither are there many luxuries. When the elder boy decided he wanted a computer, he earned the money for it by taking on a paper route. When the family goes on holiday, they all pile into their small, older-model car, and drive to a campground for a week or two of relaxation, or drive to the city to stay with friends and relatives.
The children are cheerful, disciplined, and good conversationalists. All are very bright and intellectually ambitious, so university bills will soon be a reality. These bills will be paid through a combination of savings and student loans.
This family is an inspiring example of a sound, well-balanced, nuclear family. Both parents are good role models whose combination of guidance and encouragement has produced healthy, adventuresome children who will contribute a lot to Canada in their lifetimes. And it has all been done on one, modest income.
But has this family paid a tax penalty for staying together and living frugally? This issue of Fraser Forum argues that it has, and that, in effect, this family has helped support other, wealthier families. This is because two-earner families who send their children outside the family for daycare are eligible for tax breaks not available to families with stay-at-home moms. The current federal government may like to be thought of as family- friendly, but the evidence proves otherwise.
And has a lack of designer clothing adversely affected the social standing of my friend's kids? Apparently not. All the neighbourhood children spend time at my friend's home. She's the closest thing many of them have to a stay-at-home mom.
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