I can live with much less, Mary Anne, but certainly not without any. I'd go stir within the first month and simply have to get myself employed somewhere.

Pay people an income, with retirement bennies -- to have children??



No: to raise them. We pay other people to raise our children now, and poor children, who need the most care, get the worst. The wealthy have farmed their children out for centuries. Why not call it what it is: productive work. And why not treat it that way?





Sounds like an orphanage -- or is this some pasture we should herd the kids to until we get home from the office, with an additional stop to pick them up? Call me lazy, but I prefer building the confidence of children to be able to survive an afternoon at home unattended. Sounds neglectful to expect a young teen to be able to handle this, but it's really no trick to safely boil a pot of water and pour it into a bowl of instant oatmeal.

And, yes, sorry to have to admit it, my family is fantastic. My parents are both still alive (and together), and my six brothers and sisters and I get together with them the first Sunday of every month for breakfast. My dad makes a mean waffle. We enjoy our company, and it provides a time to catch up with each other and see if there are any chores we can do for each other.

Therefore, I don't see the whole picture, and I can't, which curtails my ability to comment on these subjects -- but I still try. I can touch the painting, and I can feel for what is touched, but I cannot see it all.

Dan