If you don't want to take at least a few years off work, don't have a child. Babies need their mother more or less around the clock (food bags, dads don't have them) for around a year.
This might be shocking for you to hear, but mothers can pump their breast milk, so no this whole thing doesn't have to be dumped on the woman in the relationship.
Sure you can go to formula but it's expensive and detrimental to the child's health and intelligence. Breastfeeding long term is highly correlated with stronger immune systems and higher IQs.
Actually, the study that suggested a link between breast milk and IQ was flawed (
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/03/about-that-breastfeeding-study/388309/). It also only suggested a correlation . . . not a cause. You appear to have misinterpreted it.
Breastfeeding doesn't come easily or naturally to every woman or child. There are well recorded benefits of breastfeeding, so it's certainly worth seriously trying. However, it's physically impossible for some. Trying to tell everyone that it's the only option that will ensure their kid is healthy and intelligent is both wrong and cruel.
IQ is one of the best indicators of future success, income, stability, and so forth.
Some other cool things about IQ
http://www.iqtestexperts.com/iq-education.phphttp://psychology.about.com/od/intelligence/a/does-high-iq-equal-success.htm:
- Taking your kids on vacation lowers their IQ
- Putting your kid in school as soon as possible increases their IQ
- The longer your kid stays in school the higher their IQ will be
- People with very high IQ tend to have more difficulty through life than those with average IQ.
- Personality traits are about as important as IQ when predicting the outcome of a person's life
A stable home environment with both mother and father and one stay at home parent at least through preschool or kindergarten age is also has a strong correlation to higher IQ.
Correlation is not causation. Again. Typically higher income families can afford to have a parent stay at home. Wealth is strongly correlated with intelligence of children as well.
I can't fathom why anyone would deprive their child of the best chance of having a healthy and successful life, particularly when it's so simple and easy as breastfeeding and spending time with your child instead of pawning the child off on relatives or daycare.
I can't fathom why anyone would judge others based on their own misunderstanding of evidence . . . but here we are.
Why bother having a kid if you're just going to keep spending most of your day at work, particular before the child in attending school?
Perhaps having a child is important to the person. Delaying a child until your 40s or beyond greatly increases the chance of having a child born with developmental issues, and makes conception more difficult.
For the health of the child, sometimes it's necessary to give birth before retirement.
It seems so insane to me. When you decide to have a child, you know you should be taking a couple years off work. If you have a work part time from home or side gig (blog, editing, tutoring, etc.) then sure that works, but the typical 8-5 is not a realistic option for a couple years. I do not understand what your hangup is on work, focus on the child.
This is fine if you are willing to give up your career. Trying to get back into the work force after taking several years off is quite difficult, and it's likely going to come at a significant pay cut. Putting a child in a well run daycare is an enriching environment. I'm reasonably certain that it's a better environment for learning and social interaction than I could provide were I to stay home and look after our son all day, every day.
Working full time means less time is spent with your kid. It doesn't mean that you don't spend every dinner, evening, and both days of the weekend with him/her. It absolutely doesn't mean you can't be a good parent. Some of us want to retire in a few years so that we can focus on our child full time . . . rather than giving up our careers and then working low paying jobs throughout his/her life.
Respectfully, your comments appear to be uninformed and rather thoughtlessly offensive.