Cultural differences..

Sue schrieb:

Thank you for answering. It definitely seems mothers are treated better as
far as having time off for the kids. But also welfare here in the US is a
bad thing unless you absolutely need it and only for a short time. Tax
payers resent having to pay into it and have others abuse the privilege
because there are many that do abuse the system. So it's a culture
difference in that respect. Childcare here can start at six weeks because

Oh, nobody's happy about the system, many think unemployed people should
get nothing, or very little for a short period of time. But our
economy's not doing well. Those who have jobs work overtime because they
fear losing their jobs, those who have no job are unlikely to find work
quickly... Employers prefer letting their employees work overtime
instead of hiring more new workers (in some jobs overtime is
"discouraged" by reducing the hourly pay, therefore working overtime
costs the company less than hiring additional workers...).
I'm not happy to be unemployed, but I do enjoy the fact that I get to
spend my time with my children.

many of our moms go back to work at that age because most employers expect
you back at that time. I checked how much 300 euros was here in the US and
that it was only $476.31. Not many people could live on that and pay housing
and gas for the cars. So is the housing subsidized or paid for?

Well, I'm kind of reluctant to state my monthly income versus my monthly
bills. I do have more than 300 Euro/month though, the 300 euros cover my
gas, electricity and phone bills, no, my phone bill is not huge.
I live in my grandparents house (my grandmother died a few years ago and
my grandfather lives in a home for the elderly as he's suffering from
some sort of dementia and Parkinson's disease.) which sounds bigger than
it is, it's a small kitchen, a small bathroom, Sam's room, a large
living room (which I've divided into my workspace and living area) and
my bedroom. So I'm not paying rent but I pay for electricity, water,
gas, garbage,...
If I wasn't living here I could get extra money for rent, and apply for
subsidized housing (I think the wait time is over a year right now).

I don't own a car so I don't need petrol, I use cloth diapers and I use
soapnuts for my regular laundry and occasionally standard detergent, I
try to save money wherever I can and so far it's working. I hardly ever
go out, I cook nearly all our meals myself (we get take out maybe one a
month).

I don't think I know anyone who started back to work before the child
turned 6 months. There's simply no childcare available unless you hire a
sitter who comes to your house, which is very expensive (I think around
7-15 euro/hour).

cu
nicole