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5-6-98 Dennis Prager began his show complaining about the amount of rain. He then moved on to discuss motherhood. He listened to Ronn Owens' program this morning which also discussed the topic. Prager was worried about the comment by a single female in her thirties: That many men today did not want their future wives to be full time mothers. [That corresponds with my understanding.] One female caller said that she divorced her husband because he wanted her to keep working, rather than stay home with the kids. Now she has married happily, and stays home with her four kids. A single male complained that many women would not go out with a guy unless he made mega bucks. Prager says that people are in love with money rather than raising their own kids. P praised a man who worked two jobs, earned 40K a year, who wanted his wife to stay home with the kids. P says that singles should discuss these values on dates. P contends that we need more good parents rather than more good lawyers. P reports on the AP story about working parents: From the Whirlpool Foundation: Conclusion: More than two-thirds of women say that good parents help support the family financially. What does that mean? Survey claimed that financial support was as important to being a good parents as spending time with your own kids. Study: Women are redefining what nurturing means [to include financial support]. P: Words are being redefined. Not you are a nurturing parent if you earn lots of money.
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE FEATURES)--May 6, 1998--Children, a critical and often overlooked voice in the work/family debate, are putting an end to contentions that working mothers have a negative impact on American families. A new Report Card from school-age children and their mothers finds the American family alive and well, thanks primarily to the incredible efforts of mom, regardless of her employment status.
"Report Card on the New Providers: Kids and Moms Speak," which provides a unique kid's-eye view of how the American family is evolving, is third in a series of studies funded by Whirlpool Foundation. Whirlpool Foundation was established nearly 50 years ago to help support the social needs of families. The research included qualitative focus groups and in-home polling of more than one thousand American children ages six to 17 and their mothers.
Luke:
At 1:20PM, Prager read from an ad in the latest Jewish Journal: "By Invitation Only Gentlemen must be 40 years old or older and earn a minimum of $100K per year. Ladies must be 35 yrs. Or older and earn a minimum of $40K. All members must pass a background check…"
Prager remembers in the early '90s when his wife left for Israel for two weeks during the Hussein crisis. P says the most difficult part was looking after the two dogs, who left gifts on his carpet. A 41 yo female caller Melanie said that feminism backfired on women. It denied their spiritual, emotional, bewitching side for ball-busting careerism. P says that modern feminism should rather be called masculinism because it maximizes male traits like career success. P wanted to have Melanie on his show. For a career, she retrains single women on how to be feminine.
A male caller contended that raising kids makes women "ditzy." Prager disagreed passionately. He said that raising kids is as important and as deepening as work. You can be a ditzy neurosurgeon or talkshow host says P. At the beginning of his third hour, P interviewed for five minutes one of the organizers of the Whirlpool study. Prager looked forward to a challenging call from Rebecca, who had to hang up before going on air so that she could pick up her kids. Wednesday, May 6, 1998 Dennis opened today's show retelling a conversation he had with a woman in her 30's. This woman told Dennis that she finds it is a turnoff to most men if she tells them that one-day she hopes to have children and be a full-time mom. Dennis said he really didn't know if this was true but if it was, he would be sad and worried. So, Dennis asked his listeners if they find this to be true? Most of the callers said yes. One man called and said that it is definitely a "turnoff" if a woman tells him this because he believes that full-time moms end up ditzy after a while. Dennis addressed the issue of the stereotype of women becoming ditzy after staying home with kids for too long. He said that anyone could become ditzy in any profession if they do the same thing everyday. It is up to each of us to force ourselves to grow. For example, a surgeon who performs the same surgery every day doesn't grow anymore than any assembly line worker. A mother who takes care of children and reads a book a week is growing more than most people. Dennis said that if people want to grow it is up to them to provide the context to help them grow, such as meeting people, reading, volunteer work, involvement in the community, etc. There were some callers who disagreed but they were all married. One man called who said how proud he was that his wife could stay home and that he has to work 2 jobs and brings in an annual income of forty thousand dollars. Another man said the same and has an income of thirty thousand dollars. One woman called to say that she ended up divorcing her husband because even though financially it was not a problem, he still didn't want her to be a full-time mom.
In the third hour Dennis brought up a news item off of today's wire about a survey conducted by the Whirlpool foundation. They asked children about possible negative effects from their moms working full time away from the home. The foundation concluded that children are not adversely affected and that "women are redefining what nurturing means; nurturing is both economic and emotional…" The survey also concluded that working moms spend only 7 hours less a week with their kids than do full-time moms. Dennis said that this study was questionable. First of all it goes against common sense that working mom's only spend one hour less each day with their children, and secondly, what did they expect children to say? For example, did they really expect 6 year old Tommy or 9 year old Julie to say, well after giving it thoughtful consideration and surveying many of the home habits of my friends I have concluded that it would be best for my emotional development to have my mother be a full-time parent. The study asked such questions as, "do you think you have a good mom?" Dennis also said that although he does know that in some cases of course a family might need an additional income, that it is none-the-less wrong to redefine the term "nurturing" as refering to both economic and emotional. Economics is important but it is not nurturing.
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