“very good suggestions about restructuring your life around having kids, of which some methods are very practical just not in line with social norms.”
Agree. If you’re optimizing for life satisfaction I think the MMM posts are excellent.
“the post you linked to is correct … having someone watch your kids while you go off and work is the lifestyle of the rich minority.”
I’m not saying the post is wrong or that people should put their kids in day care even if they lose money, I’m saying that this is a situation where opportunity cost argument is totally applicable. Imagine a married couple deciding between two options: (1) don’t have kids and give any extra money to effective charity (2) have kids and give any extra money to effective charity. If they choose option #1 they earn $X and $Y each and need to spend $Z to live, so they can donate $X+$Y-$Z. If they choose option #2 and they don’t earn enough for daycare to make sense then say the person earning $Y stays home full time. They also have additional costs related to having children like needing a bigger house; let’s call that $W. Now they have available to donate $X-$Z-$W.
In terms of money they actually pay, the cost of kids is just $W. But they no longer earn that $Y/year, so their money available to donate has also gone down by $Y. The “cost of kids” for this couple as measured by decreased donations to charity is $W+$Y not $W.
“very good suggestions about restructuring your life around having kids, of which some methods are very practical just not in line with social norms.”
Agree. If you’re optimizing for life satisfaction I think the MMM posts are excellent.
“the post you linked to is correct … having someone watch your kids while you go off and work is the lifestyle of the rich minority.”
I’m not saying the post is wrong or that people should put their kids in day care even if they lose money, I’m saying that this is a situation where opportunity cost argument is totally applicable. Imagine a married couple deciding between two options: (1) don’t have kids and give any extra money to effective charity (2) have kids and give any extra money to effective charity. If they choose option #1 they earn $X and $Y each and need to spend $Z to live, so they can donate $X+$Y-$Z. If they choose option #2 and they don’t earn enough for daycare to make sense then say the person earning $Y stays home full time. They also have additional costs related to having children like needing a bigger house; let’s call that $W. Now they have available to donate $X-$Z-$W.
In terms of money they actually pay, the cost of kids is just $W. But they no longer earn that $Y/year, so their money available to donate has also gone down by $Y. The “cost of kids” for this couple as measured by decreased donations to charity is $W+$Y not $W.