I find myself challenged sometimes trying to match my primary job as a SAHD with survey demographic queries. Most have a "homemaker" box--no problem there. But, the follow-up to that section is always "What field do you work in?" and the choices are the standard Technology, Business, Entertainment, etc. If you break down all the job "duties" of a parent, particularly one who stays home, you've got Food Service, Sanitation, Janitorial, Entertainment, Health Care, and Transportation and we don't get paid for any of them, really, not to mention any or all of those skills are on-call 24/7. I actually have an article in the works on this subject. CLICK HERE TO JOIN XOMBA TODAY!

I'm not defending the mother's behaviour but I realised how lucky I've been when I read it. Firstly my daughter is seemingly a "beginners child" and while I could never have left her when she was growing up - some of her friends maybe! Also, I've had support from an extended family - I really don't know how I would have coped without them. For instance, when I had the offer to travel around Spain for a month and study when my daughter was 3 years old, my sister looked after my daughter. I once met a woman who bragged (like a smug bug in a rug) that she had "coped" with six children all under the age of 5 years. I was impressed. Then I discovered she had two professional nannies, a cook and a gardener. PS The Daily Mail is an organ with an awful reputation. If it was a parent it would be an exploitative one. Good one +1

I'm not saying I agree with what she did, but, as a stay-at-home dad, I understand a bit of what it feels like to be at the end of one's rope when dealing with children. If she didn't have a nearby support network and she was going it alone, it wouldn't take long for her to just withdraw to that degree. Since the story just focuses on the events of that week, we don't have all the facts about what happened and are examining everything in a vacuum. Parenting is the hardest job in the world as we parents know, even if it is the most rewarding ultimately. I don't agree that there is necessarily anything permanent about "damage" to the children, since each child comes down here with different deals to work on. It could very well be that this experience will positively affect a decision either one or both will make later in life. We don't know. (For that last paragraph, I am not being callous about the situation. It's just that I learned in one of my parenting classes that there are no guarantees in parenting. Parents can do everything right and the child can still wind up making goofy choices in life. Similarly, parents can make goofy choices and the child will still be okay.) CLICK HERE TO JOIN XOMBA TODAY!