EVERYONE AGREES IN THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS...

"A loving, caring parent staying at home with a child during the formative years sounds like the ideal situation." IL

"The ideal proposition would be to have a parent at home with the child while the other parent works." OH

"It would be wonderful if one parent could stay at home with the children." OR

"Most parents believe that the safest and best child care is provided by a parent or a close relative."CA

"The best thing for a child is to have a stay-at-home mom." OK

"The obvious first choice of who should care for the children is a mother or father." MI

"...a mothers caring for their children at home would probably be best for the children." VA

"...in most cases it would be best if the moms stayed home with their children." NE

"Mothers taking care of their own children at home is almost always what's best for the children." CT

"It would be ideal if today's world would allow one parent to stay home and raise the children." CA

"A recent survey indicates that 88 percent of mothers would prefer to stay at home with their children, instead of being out working."AL

"Parental care is definitely the ideal route. . ."OH

"...what is best for the children is the parent staying home with the children in the first place." MI

"(Mothers) should stay at home and care for their children even if it means quitting their job." NE

"The best thing for a child is to have a stay at home mom."OK

"Almost all the parents agreed that care by one or both parents is the best of all possible worlds."SD

"If mothers had the choice, most of them would probably decide to stay home to take care of their children." CA

"Usually,the best care for children is their own parents." MO

"An ideal solution to the entire child care controversy would be for the mothers to stay home."TN

"Most of us feel that parents are the best caretakers of their children..."OK

"Through a survey which I have conducted, a general consensus has been established that parental care is the best kind of care a child can receive."PA

"The ideal situation would be for one parent to stay home with the kids."OR

"Experts in the field of child care agree that an infant is the best off when in the care of his/her mother, if she can afford to stay home."MI

"No one can argue the fact that a good mother constantly at home will provide a child with the very best care he or she can obtain."ID

"...if one spouse stayed home, there would be fewer people in the work force. This would raise wages and make it easier to live on one income. Also, there would be no need for a child care law because the parent who was not working could care for the children."OK

"I feel we have lost our perspective on how much work it takes to make a household work efficiently and for all the people inside to feel loved."NE

"I think it's clear that the best way to care for children is to stay at home."IL

"Two caring parents who can supervise their own child is the best situation for a child, but this is not always possible." CA

"In time, the mothers' search for child care teaches them a critical lesson: no matter how many licenses are issued, how many guidelines are established or how much money is paid, it is impossible to have quality control over the capacity of one human being to love and care for another. Slowly, painfully, mothers come to stunning realizations --the persons they are looking for are right under their noses. Mothers are trying to hire themselves. And that's why smart women are staying home." OK

"The goals I have for my own life include being the best wife I can be to the man I marry. Secondly, I hope to be a mother who is a role model to my children. Personally, I wish to stay at home so that I and my husband are the ones who raise my children."OK

"When I have children someday, either I or my wife are going to stay home and watch them, not send them to day care centers or to some other strangers' home because family is best."NE

OR DO THEY?

"The quality of time sacrificed by a working parent overwhelms the quantity of unrewarding time often given by stay-at-home mothers. And besides, employed mothers are found to spend only about five hours less per week on tending to their children than nonemployed mothers." IL

"(A recent study showed) children reared by their mothers tended to be more whiny, cranky and irritable."NY

"My mother stayed home with me till I was seven years old. Then she got a part time job but she was still home when I got home from school. I guess when I look back at this I'm glad she was there and I didn't have to go to a babysitters. But I don't think I personally could be happy without a career. I'm a nineties woman; I want it all!" MI

"What do you think about a woman who is a homemaker who can't cook and doesn't enjoy sewing but fills her time with menial tasks?...she is more depressed more often than anybody I've ever met...(she) sleeps in until the minute kids leave for school...(she) spends the day washing clothes and watching..."the soaps"... About supper time (she) is so tired of staying home that she 'has to get out of the house and away from the kids!' We have just defeated mom's sole purpose in wanting to live without a job. 'I don't want a stranger bringing up my kids!' Right, mom. Instead your children have learned to live on their own when you are too depressed to spend time with them...People can't have a positive feeling towards their home and family if they are confined to an area where they are never challenged to exert themselves...If our government encouraged women to work through secure child care provisions, (this woman) could learn to feel good about herself, thus enjoying the time she spends with her children." IL

"Failing to provide child care will not encourage women to stay home." NY

"Stay-at-home mothers spend their time doing household chores, leaving very little responsibility for the children." IL ". . .a current study by the Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut show that children with mothers who work after that child's first year of life have normal, well-adjusted children." OH "When the parent isn't working, a child is forced into being with an emotionally unstable mother or father every second of the day. . . children seem to benefit more from parents who both work simply because those parents are usually happier. When mother or father is satisfied with his/her own life, their positive attitude is channeled to the children." IL "Personally, I believe that a mother should still work when her child is young. . .I feel that one day when I am out in the real world and have a good steady career, I'm not going to want a child to stand in my way." NJ "America still believes that the woman should be at home. Until this bias is resolved, working women and their children will not get the support they need." NY

IS THIS SELFISH?

"Men and women want to have children, but they don't want to take respon- sibility and sacrifice anything for them."CO

"Working for sheer pleasure is not a responsible act toward the children and the tax payers. Too many parents are neglecting the obligation they have to take care of their children." PA

"Caring for children seems to be an annoying restriction to parents rather than the precious joy it should be."KY

"The world is like a chain reaction. If it is introduced to negative material, then soon our whole society will turn into a chaotic mess... The adults of today's world must forget about themselves and start thinking about what is best for the children." TX

"Maybe with the economy these days you can't live on one income but if you plan to have children you should decide whether the new clothes and nice career are more important than your children." NE

"Parents need to start considering their children's well-being over income." MI

"It seems that the view of people in the 90s is: I want to be successful first, and then possibly have a family...if I have time. Don't get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing the matter with being a success. What's wrong is achieving that goal at the expense of the children."OK

"If a parent has to give up a career (identification: to pursue an ultimate goal.) or other comforts, then so be it. A successful parent must place the well being of the child above all else. Anything less would be neglect."IL

"Some women may want to stay at work. But do they have good reasons to work? Is the reason because they want the money or they need the money?"NE

"The government isn't asking any mothers to stay at home, but maybe they should...It doesn't matter which of the two parents stay at home, but the point is the goals of one of them should be delayed for awhile."CT

"Society has grown not only to accept child care but, to a major extent, depend upon it. We have lost sight of our responsibility as parents and have simply established ourselves as a selfish generation who will not even put forth the time and effort to raise our own children." CA

"Think before you have a child and be able to afford the time and money and not rush into it." NE

"I say that women should have the same opportunities equal to those of men, and not have to be concerned with the type of treatment their child is getting." LA

"A woman is a human and deserves the right to work." MO

"Women are increasingly moving into the workplace as high-level execu- tives, chairman, and even presidents. This places a burden on our society as to who stays home and takes care of the children. Women holding these positions are paying our government money so the government should try and help them in terms of child care. That is only fair." TX

"In today's shifting society, with taxes and goods getting higher while incomes seem to be motionless, the woman has put down her apron and iron, and traded them in for a computer terminal and a welder's torch." NY

"I can imagine that women have higher self confidence and self esteem knowing that they are earning their own living to help support the family. But, I believe, there are a few circumstances that must happen before a mother should work. First, as in the case of my mother, the wife should go back to work when the kids are old enough and responsible enough to take care of themselves, or at least take care of each other. Secondly...the mother will teach her children the values of respect, courtesy and cooperation, on a more personal note than a baby-sitter or a day care. Thirdly, the children will be growing up without knowing who their mother is." NE

"The more parents that are in the work force, the more income tax dollars