A salute to New Jersey stay-at-home moms

We realize that in 2023 there are some dads that stay at home with the kiddos, but moms outnumber them by three to one.

Even though New Jersey is ranked in a five-way tie for ninth place when it comes to parents who stay at home with their kids, the number is tiny. Just 2.9% of New Jersey households have a "stay-at-home" parent and it's usually the mom.

The percentage rose 71% from 2019 to 2021 due in large part to the pandemic. Compare that with the fact that in 1970 the average was 48% of moms stayed home with the kids.

Thanks to the 'gig economy' there are other options for moms and dads who choose not to take a traditional full or part-time job. That has freed up a lot of parents to make the difficult decision to stay at home with their children.

For many couples, it's a tougher choice because it's usually the mom who has the inclination to be with the kids, but many women today out-earn their husbands.

It's tough to ditch the higher income and let's face it, dads are not as gung-ho to be the domestic caregiver. Back in 1960, only 3.8% of women earned more than their husbands. As of 2021, that number increased to 21%.

It could be due to the fact that more women than men have a college four years of college or a college degree. The number of women with a college degree in 1940 was 3.8% and is now at 39.1%. Lots of moms feel like they'd be wasting all that education just to stay home with the kids.

Daycare costs in New Jersey easily run over $1,000 a month. Some parents are running the numbers and figuring it's more important to have a parent stay at home with the children than take a job that barely covers the cost of going to work.

My daughter-n-law Jessica is an amazing example of a modern stay-at-home mom who does the mom thing better than anyone and still manages to earn some money in the gig economy from door dash to babysitting to sell her creative wares on Etsy.

She's amazing and is the inspiration for this post to say thank you, congratulations, you're loved and appreciated and a very special part of our society that rarely gets the recognition you deserve. THANK YOU!!!

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

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