[ramzyo]

> Effectively they do get paid. In a marriage, mothers own half their husband's income.

That’s some creative logic. Being a stay at home parent is a full-time job. If the stay at home parent were being paid, they’d...well...be paid. “Effective” payment isn’t helpful to a full time parent raising a child and losing out on wages they would otherwise get at a job that the economy values with a taxable wage.

[klipt]

So you want the husband to explicitly pay his wife a W2 wage to raise their kids, which just means as a couple they pay more taxes and have less money than before?

I don't see the upside.

[ramzyo]

No, you’re right that doesn’t make sense, and I wouldn’t be for that. I think government should expand paid time off for family leave, especially in the US.

[bradleyjg]

So if corporate attorney is taking time off to raise a child society should value, and pay, more for that then if a public defender is?

[ramzyo]

This is a loaded question. "society should value" and "pay more" are separate arguments. By agreeing to the first I'm not agreeing to the second. I think society should value taking time off to raise children, yes. However, I don't think that society should value a corporate attorney doing this more than a public defender doing it. To do so would value raising children unequally. A universal basic income with an additional stipend for child care would be one solution that captures this difference.

[bradleyjg]

Okay, then we are no longer talking about paid time off and we are no longer addressing the trade-offs involved in taking time away from a lucrative career in SV.

Which is fine with me, I don’t think that’s a problem that needs solving but you and others in this thread had implied otherwise.

[twoifbyseat]

> “Effective” payment isn’t helpful to a full time parent raising a child

? Having room and board for yourself and your child is nothing if not helpful.

[ramzyo]

Yes, I agree. I don’t see how that ties to the original argument in the thread, though. Presumably a full time parent with a spouse who can provide for both parent and child and who gave up a taxable wage to be a caregiver already had room and board. The room and board comment seems irrelevant to the argument given the context of the preceding comments around forfeiting a taxable wage for the full time job of parenthood.