[Roderick Usher]

I can pick out a kid raised by a nanny instead of an at-home parent easily. The ones without a full-time stay-at-home parent are the behavior cases... the ones who act out, talk back and have poor manners.

I am a stay at home dad and the wife and I agreed that no matter how it hurt us financially (and it has hurt us financially), one of us would always stay home with the kids so they had a disciplinarian and solid authority figure around them full-time. It is a hard job, but it is the MOST important job there is. When people comment about how well mannered my children are I alsways wonder "why aren't yours?" And usually it's becasue both parents work and no one is raising the children.

Belief systems, personal philosophies, religious choices... these come from parents. No one else has the legal right to impose these things on a child and as a result they know not to try. Only a parent can raise a child properly.

I know this isn't financially feasable for all people, but a kid raised by a nanny or an after-school system is a kid who has an impotent authority figure in front of them.

It isn't just moms, the dads need to take responsibility.

Kids need parents. Rationalize your descisions however you must, but the rationalization only helps you. The kids need something a little more concrete.