mama vents:: costs

I have been deeply troubled the last few days by the high costs of living.  What are we working towards as a society?  $25,000 cars, $40,000 tuition bills, $1200 per month for childcare, added with healthcare costs, gas, and food?  Where does that leave us?

I overheard someone say that to live a comfortable life  in Seattle you need to earn $200,000 a year.  Whether this is true or not it certainly got me thinking.  As I embark on a new journey of becoming a working mother, I have had to ask myself if this is the right decision.  I will have to pay someone at least $1200 a month to watch my kids, pay for gas and commuting---hell, I might have to buy a second car.  There will be expenses for clothes, a laptop, coupled with books, testing fees, and an overall change in lifestyle.  All for a $42,000 salary?  Is this even possible?  Yet, I have to work.  Not only would the second income be nice, health insurance, retirement plans, life insurance etc, but this is an opportunity to show that I am more than just a mother.

Now that the calculator is adding up, I really have to question myself, what is so bad about just being "mom".  Nothing. I love it.  But again, we need a second income.  We need to buy a house. We need health insurance.  We need to start saving for those big fancy overpriced colleges.  We need a retirement plan.  And apparently we need to make over $200,000 to live comfortably in Seattle.

Why?  Why are things so expensive?  How did we get to $4/gallon for gas?  How did we get to $40,000 a year for private school tuition?  How is childcare $1200/month, PER kid?  We can justify $600 for a new iPad and military funding, yet we are cutting healthcare and education.  What are our priorities?  What are we teaching our children?  How did we become such a consumerism driven society? 

I ask that fellow friends and parents really ask themselves about their lifestyle.  Are new toys important?  New iPhones and new cars? What about healthy eating?  Books?  Family night?  What happened to public transportation?  What about teaching our children that society matters; education matters, healthcare matters; people matter. Just looking at our lifestyles and the high cost of life, there is a troubling discrepency between what we want our world to look like and what it actually is.

As I continue to research my options, I am left with one question:  why am I leaving my kids at home to go on to teach others?  Is it fair?  And the answer is yes.  Education matters.  I am a born-teacher and I wish to teach my children and ALL children.  I may have my own agenda and dream of Utopian society, but is that really bad?  Is it really bad to want to teach children how to become active and involved citizens, aware of their global and local communities?  Is it really bad to teach social justice and remind ourselves about solidarity, community, giving back?  Is it really bad to empower children and make their potential known?


What kind of world are we living in?  What do we want our children to learn?  What are our priorities?  What are YOUR priorities?  We need to make some changes. 

Alright.  Just a rant.