There is no way to know if Sarah Palin would be a good or a bad vice-president or pre

[Ginger's Mom]

Am I wrong? Can a woman be a full-time mom and a full-time vice-president? With a less than one-year old child with Down's Syndrome?

Yes, you are wrong. Women, even women with special needs children, have been performing all the the tasks of motherhood and working full-time jobs for outside companies for many many years now and done excellent jobs at both. They are not mutually exclusive positions.

[Catty1]

My cousin and his wife have two boys; the youngest is about 2 years old, and Colton is about 6. Colton has Down's.

Both parents work outside the home - but Mom has every Friday off just for badly needed free time. They can't afford extra help.

WO, I know that it takes "5 minutes to 'father a child' ", but BEING a father/dad and participating in that child's life are two different things. It would be like you taking a few minutes to get a new pet and fully expecting someone else to take on the full time care and loving of it.

You actually are a good father to your pets.

SADLY, however, in many parts of society the burden (and joy) of raising the children falls to the mother. Economics being what they are, often the woman's wage would be lower than the man's, so they stay at home while dad works. It makes economic sense.

Sarah Palin has been a full time politician for many many years. With her husband there, and older children, they can participate in helping with each other, the house, in addition to the baby with Down's. BUT I bet you anything they also have a nanny, and some form of daycare for the baby. They can afford all the help they need.

I cannot see a woman who has such a child wanting to do anything else. There is something wrong with a woman who would.

WHOA. I suggest you attend the next public event of your local chapter of a Down's organization and ask a few questions. Dan, you are WAY too smart to be this ignorant. Time to re-educate yourself!

http://www.cmdss.org/ - you're in time for the Buddy Walk on October 11 2008.

http://www.cmdss.org/Advice/Links.html

Lurk on these boards and see what you find out:
http://dailystrength.org/c/Down-Syndrome/support-group

List of forums here - UpsnDowns is an international one; my cousin and his wife are involved with this. There is also a forum for DADS: D.A.D.S. Dads Appreciating Down Syndrome
http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query...=-1&sg=10&ss=1

http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query...=-1&sg=20&ss=1

http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query...=-1&sg=30&ss=1

There is your open-book test. You can pick any study pages you want. At the bottom of each of these pages is a "previous-next" link, so you can search for more if you wish. Who knows? Likely some of them are discussing the Sarah Palin topic as well.

Have compassion - after all, people are animals too.

[pomtzu]

I think the point to consider here, is that that are millions of women who are mothers and hold down a full time job also. However, the majority of these jobs are Mon-Fri, 9-5. I went that route myself. Unfortunately in the position of v.p. - this ain't gonna happen. Consider just the travel involved when she is called upon to venture to a foreign country for days and more at a time, meetings and summits, burning the midnight oil with top officials at home, etc, etc, etc. I think that is what Willow Oak was referring to....

[Catty1]

pomtzu - and then Sarah, if she is VP, will do what other White House couples do - schedule time for them and their kids, and hire staff to do the rest.

Which I think they do already.

I don't see why Sarah is being singled out - former First Ladies don't have much time to be a hausfrau either. White House couples, period, aren't full time parents. They can't be. At least they don't have "latchkey kids".

Too many working couples these days do have the latchkey kids, or are spending tons of money on daycare. (SOME couples have looked at their finances and found it is actually cheaper for one parent to stay home!)

The reason I reponded to Dan the way I did was that he seemed to put the burden of this on the female, ergo:

I cannot see a woman who has such a child wanting to do anything else. There is something wrong with a woman who would.

And nothing wrong with a man who would?

That's my point.

[Ginger's Mom]

Sorry, pomtzu, I have to disagree, there are many many mothers who hold down full-time jobs (even 48 hours a week) that are not 9-5 jobs. That actually may make it easier to do both jobs more efficiently, since we all know that being a mother is not a job that only exists from 5-9. Being able to deal with work pressures and family issues is something that millions of women do on a daily basis. And some of them do it without as much support as Palin has. Is Palin one of the women who is able to do that? I have no idea. Does being a mother of five children, one of those children being a special needs child, mean that she is unable to perform the duties of the Vice President? Absolutely not.

I don't see why Sarah is being singled out - former First Ladies don't have much time to be a hausfrau either. White House couples, period, aren't full time parents. They can't be. At least they don't have "latchkey kids".

"Sarah" is being singled out because she has a child that is going to need more time, care, and energy than most children need. Her child is going to have many health, learning, growth, and behavioral problems as she grows. We really can't pretend that this child needs the same amount of time and care as any other child. She cannot do things with this child that you can with other children, and you cannot, and should not want to have "staff" do it either. However, as I have stated women have been doing both for decades.