I wish more people who didn’t have kids (like me!) took a moment to research the cost of raising them before proudly declaring that a single mom making $100k is vastly more privileged than a 20-yo single white guy with no kids making $50k.
Like, look, I have never been a single mom making $100k but I have friends who have been and they had NO disposable income.
I have been a 20-yo white person with no kids making $50k and while it wasn’t the lap of luxury, I was able to occasionally buy shit I didn’t need.
I have been a 20-yo white person with no kids making $50k and while it wasn’t the lap of luxury, I was able to occasionally buy shit I didn’t need.
Like it’s weird how many Twitterati will do the math for how different $40k is today from what it was in the 1980s and look at housing and food costs but won’t do the same analysis for $100k and look at childcare costs.
Because yeah, when you’re in an apartment with a housemate and decent health and no kids and you’re nowhere near retirement, $100k probably sounds like unbelievable luxury.
But that analysis that showed you can’t raise a family in Seattle for less than $70k?
It included school fees and clothing and food costs for kids, but not childcare.
So how is Mom supposed to be working that job, hmm?
It included school fees and clothing and food costs for kids, but not childcare.
So how is Mom supposed to be working that job, hmm?
The average annual cost of childcare in Seattle is almost $20k.
So if you don’t have a partner who can stay home and take care of the kids?
You can’t raise a family in Seattle for less than $90k.
So if you don’t have a partner who can stay home and take care of the kids?
You can’t raise a family in Seattle for less than $90k.
And I really wish “class solidarity” rhetoric actually bothered to understand that salary alone doesn’t define class, and $100k might not even make you middle class on the coasts if you’re a single parent.
Context matters.
Context matters.
Like I dunno, maybe stop listening to young, white, male, childless dirtbag leftists and start listening to leftist moms before you decide who’s too bougie to deserve your solidarity?
Oh, btw, that $70k budget? Didn’t include anything that would cover the cost of medication/supplies/care/etc. for a family member with chronic illness or disability, either.
Like I remember buying a Lush bath bomb for a single mom friend while I was unemployed and she broke down in tears because it had been so long since she had felt like she could justify spending money on anything for herself that she didn’t need.
She was a programmer.
She was a programmer.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
