I am not sure where I was when this was posted...but just read this thread....OMG Susan...TOO FUNNY!!! sssnnnfffff.....yes you do smell MEN! LOL

I will say (with the knowledge that I may get a GRRROOAANN) that I am the
2nd oldest of 8 and when I was a young teenager....my mother went back to work full time (40+) hours...drove an hour each way every T, TH and Sat to school to get her Masters (in special education), had a very supportive husband that worked 2 jobs (one for NY State) and had a disabled youngest child. I look back at my teen years in AWE....in three ways....

1...that my parents SURVIVED and that we all did as well. Saintly or Insane...still not sure...and neither are they...

2...that I would never DO what they did...I think they missed too much of our lives...and at times we greatly resented them for it...and Dad's cooking abilities were not the best...

3...That they did their very best as parents..no matter what our (as children) mistakes were...as they made the choice to have 8 children (the last 3 being oops's as they say and love us all in their own way...and we all turned out "OK" in the end...well ok...some of them are still working on that part....

SO...with that all said...GOD BLESS PALIN for trying to move up in her career, as a woman...and a mother...(but that still doesn't qualify her IMO specifically to be VP or P one day....)

BUT...I do KNOW that someone....a parent...needs to be around for those kids! I don't care if it is one or the other....mother or father or in some cases the other Mom or other Dad....just one of them needs to be there for the kids...not babysitters, nannies....a child at any age needs a parent to make sure they don't get hurt running with scissors as they say!

I am not saying that a parent can prevent every mistake either...but it is very easy for BIG mistakes to happen when neither parent is around...and doesn't know what is going on....