wiggin, I just don't think having children (or not) should be framed as good (or bad) "monetary investments". Using statistics and data to guide life decisions can't begin to weigh benefits or losses, because humans simply don't operate like computers or calculators. The same is true for the values or costs of a college education....including debts, unemployment rates, type of degree, etc. that can't measure all the other benefits or losses.

The "reality" is that since women have become half the workforce, and almost half of all professional fields....the wage gaps and family leave policies haven't kept up. It's also a fact that women still dominate early education, teaching, child care and day care, but without being "valued" with professional salaries (or even skilled wages). US culture still has an attitude that those who can, do; those who can't, teach, and seems to treat raising kids the same way.

I didn't intend to bark at you, but you hit some hot buttons when talking about "careers delayed" for stay-at-home parents (translation: mostly mothers). Those temporary delays aren't proven to be detrimental to a "career"....especially since children eventually attend school most of their day, as you said. Careers can include part-time work, working from home, job sharing, tele-conferencing, things women have done for decades, even generations. Besides, modern careers can last more than 60 years, with many changes and detours along the way.

If Einstein were alive today, he'd probably be amenable to changing a few diapers while "work" continues in his head, multi-tasking, having a Daddy Day that allows his partner to have a "work day". He likely wouldn't view a care-taker as a wetnurse that simply feeds a child, changes diapers, and does menial housework. His research assistants might be parents too, and they'd figure out a way to make it work without losing talent, whether that's from a mother or father. In other words, he'd be living with current definitions of parenting, and would know the importance of fathers doing more than bringing home the bacon.