Alexandru Constantin posts a correction to his earlier statement that:
I wholeheartedly believe that the ideal situation for raising children is having a stay at home mother and a father that is available as much as possible. I understand that this is not possible or desirable for everyone, but, once again I re-iterate that I believe that the above is the ideal.
The correction? After some commentary, the realization that no, that was pretty good, but it wasn't the ideal.
In retrospective, and after being pointed out by H.P. in the comments and my wife in person, I was wrong. The ideal setup for a family is not a working father and a stay at home mother. The ideal setup is both parents being together and working from home.
Working from home can be the watchmaker or carpenter who actually has his shop at home. The former would almost never travel to meet clients and customers, though may for training and work-related seminars and conventions, the latter could do much of his work at home but would have to do a lot of final fit up and installs on site. My own work lies in the latter realm - a home office but several days a week I spend at least part if not most of the day at client offices.
A man will never be entirely at home because he will have to meet those he does business with, or like a carpenter or consultant, has to work with his clients at their offices at times, or install something at site, but having a business rooted at home allows flexibility of downtime. Sure, if you run your own business you may not get a lot of days off in a row for vacations, but you have flexibility built into most days with little or no heads up needed. You can usually take time off for the kids during the day, and are available for emergencies.
It can also cut down on the number of cars a family needs.
