frustration

I wonder how many other wives out there are in a similar state of frustration as I am. Sometimes I feel guilty for not being a good daughter, and producing little grand kids for my parents to look after and indoctrinate with their good habits. Yet in the UK, without help from family it's an uphill slog to pursue a career, send the kids to nursery at a minimum of £700 a month per child, with practically no tax breaks, and paying a cleaner to clean the house. Let me work through the costs. If I were to have 2 children, and work a minimum of 8 hours from Monday to Friday, I would need to pay £1400 a month on nursery fees, £100 a month for a cleaner to come to clean the house once a week for 2 hours a go, about £500 for children's food / nappies / toys / clothes. That's £2000 just for the children, not counting anything for myself or my husband, or even the mortgage, utility bills, council tax, tv tax, car, insurance. Add those in and it comes to an amount close to £4000 a month. I pay 40% tax, therefore I need to earn at least £100,000 a year!

Unbelievable. I need to move away from the UK and set up home elsewhere. Either that or give up completely on work and just be a baby producing machine. A couple with 8 children receive £38,000 a year in benefits. Very likely a house is included on top of that for free. That means I'd be paid close to the equivalent £80,000 before tax by the state just to sit at home and look after my children. It's no wonder that there are so many teenage mothers out there - they've realised this much sooner than I have.