Gone are the days of being able to survive on a single-income household. In today’s wildly expensive era, most parents are forced to balance full-time office jobs while trying their best to be present in their children’s lives.
It’s an extremely difficult task that one Reddit user perfectly summed up in a recent rant post about how being a parent in America “is a scam.”
“We work full-time jobs, which means waking up insanely early, rushing through one or two hours of morning chaos just to get everyone out the door, spending the entire day away from our families, then racing home to grab the kids, make dinner, and power through the nightly routine — cleanup, baths, bedtime, repeat. And somehow, in all of that, there’s basically zero time left for actual family connection,” the original poster wrote in the r/Parenting subreddit in a post titled “How the heck are we all ok with this scam??”
She unfortunately has a point.
The OP also mentioned those with hour-plus commutes to and from work barely see their kids during the week, even when home, because “someone has to make dinner and keep the house running.”
“We live in these hyper-organized, tightly scheduled lives just to survive, and it’s exhausting. Daycare costs a fortune, it’s closed constantly, kids are always sick, and the stress is relentless. Some days I just want to… hang out with my damn kids.”
Ending with an incredibly relatable sentence, “Who decided this was the model for the American family? Because I have some words for them,” the frustrated mom wrote.
The honest answers in the thread of this post from other parents confirmed the truth of this sad reality for many.
“We had the flu and I realized it was so nice to all be at home with nowhere to rush. Literally having the flu was better than everyday life???”
“It’s bulls–t and I hate it. There’s no time to enjoy life.”
Some parents mentioned how they took a lower-paying job just so they could be around more for their kids.
“This is why I have only worked part time since having kids. Less money but more time taking care of the family… I am there to pick everyone up after school every day and I feel like extra money isn’t worth giving that up. For a lot of people its just not possible and that’s really sad. I wish everyone was able to spend more time with their family, it shouldn’t be this way.”
Others mentioned how they have to choose between seeing their spouse and their children.
“We work alternate shifts. I don’t see my wife a lot but I do get to spend 8 hours a day with my kid which is usually pretty great.”
And some do all of this on their own as a single parent.
“…Single parenting makes something difficult become almost impossible but the expectations don’t change. So it’s constant burnout without any appreciation for how you’re basically performing miracles every day.”
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