I've mentioned this in comment to a previous piece on this subject, but my boyfriend quit his job to become a stay-at-home dad when he and his wife worked out that they would be in better financial shape if he did so. 2 years or so later, they were separated. Nearly 2 years after THAT, he is still struggling financially--unable to get back in to the workforce. He does have a college degree.

No matter who you are, staying out of the work force for any length of time is a major liability if your circumstances change due to divorce, a layoff, or a major illness. That seems to me to be simple common sense. Some people just plain don't want to work if they don't think they have to--I have several married female friends with no kids who don't work. Some (and they seem to be mainly women) have a sort of romantic idea about staying home and caring for the kids.

Personally, I would never choose not to work. My ability to provide my OWN security rather than rely on someone else to provide it for me (not really security at all) is too important to me. And if I HAD children, I'd want to be able to provide it for them as well. If this means that I'm going to end up a lonely spinster (I thought that word implied virgin? Has it come to mean ANY woman who has never married? Personally I've never thought of myself as a SPINSTER) then, y'know, whatever... We all have SOME regrets in life... I have been occasionally lonely but rarely bored, and I DO have friends and interests and all.

As someone who competes with my dogs in dog sports, let me tell you that I cringe whenever I see a dog (especially a big dog) THIS fat.

So many problems can be caused by or exacerbated by extra weight, and veterinarians are often reluctant to tell their clients that the dogs really need to lose. The measurements on bags of dog food don't help either--they tell you to feed the dogs WAYYY more than they need. As an example, I have a slightly-over 20 lb Sheltie, 14 3/4 inches tall at the shoulder, who gets approx. 3/4 cup of food per day, and a 26-lb Sheltie, 16 3/4 inches at the shoulder (all muscle and just right weight-wise) who gets 1 cup/day. Both get a tablespoon of low-fat yogurt on top of their food as well. This is SIGNIFICANTLY less than your average dog-food bag would tell me to feed.

Show breeders are culprits too. Go to a dog show and have a look at the Labradors. They're all fat. Same for the English Bulldogs, Rottweilers, etc.

Please please please don't look at fat dogs as "cute". Their health is just as badly impacted by extra weight as ours is, and it's a LOT easier to control their portions than it is to control ours!

What's wrong with "Queen Latifah"? She can't have a stage name? Do you object to "Cary Grant" (Archibald Leach) or "Lauren Bacall" (Betty Perske)? Those are just off the top of my head--I am sure there are more recent examples. For that matter, Jack White of the White Stripes wasn't born "White"--he took Meg White's last name when they got married, and kept it when they divorced.

As for the Wal-Mart thing, yeah, I wish she wouldn't shill for them, because I really like her as an actress and personality, and the Wal-Mart association doesn't help.

And part of me, as I'm reading this, is saying "does anybody really CARE?"

And another part of me is saying, well, yeah, of COURSE I'd like to stay home! I have female friends with no kids who don't work. Part of me would like to do the same. However, I have no choice in the matter.

But I do have to take issue with this:

Because there's tons kids learn from their fathers! Look what happens to boys who don't have fathers! They become hyper-male; they don't have male role models, they're joining gangs. They bristle against the matriarchy they're in. The data is incredible about fatherless boys.

This is just anecdotal, but my boyfriend's father died in an industrial accident when he was 9 years old, and he isn't described by the quote above AT ALL. I think it's got more to do with poverty and poor education than lack of a father.