Question for ALL DUers -- why is it my job?

[Katherine Brengle]

I am reading this article on AOL News (http://parenting.aol.com/parenting/onlyonaol/article/0,19840,1160229_1,00.html?) about parenting.

The article touts itself as a "balanced" look, but it is so clearly not balanced, I can't even believe my eyes.

I want to know what DUers think of the stay-at-home v. working thing, and also what you all think about mom v. dad staying home with the kids.

Personally, I think it is great if a parent can be at home all the time, especially with very young children, but I think it is absolutely ridiculous to assume that that parent MUST be the mother, and not the father.

I've been thinking about this a lot, and I also think that our government could encourage people to have happy, healthy families by granting some type of wage to any parent who chooses to stay home and help raise a child (only one parent per family though, and the wage should be adjusted according to the salary of the "working" spouse--those whose spouses make more, get a little less, and those whose spouses make less, get a little more, to even the playing field and make it fair--millionaires shouldn't necessarily be getting a gov't subsidy for childcare)

(EDIT: I want to clarify something--I am just passing this idea of mine along for your consideration--I am not saying it is a great idea, or even a plausible one--it's just an idea. What I really want to hear are YOUR ideas, not your thoughts on mine, although those are of course welcome as well. Thanks.)