Or watching and helping form your own child into him/herself, meeting your friends for casual lunches in the park while your kids play, playing goofy games, having time to make nutritious meals instead of heating frozen foods, etc.

Interestingly, you're both right. Turns out you have to take the bad with the good, or more accurately TANSTAAFL

Grandparent was responding to the ridiculous notion that being a homemaker is like being on vacation with kids. No one is disputing there can be benefits to being a homemaker or having one in the family.

Being on vacation with kids is far harder than being at home with kids!

It's... really not that bad? Actually, it's pretty fun.

I work from home, wife doesn't, that makes me the defacto stay-at-home dad. It's definitely playing the startup game in "hard mode" but I love not missing a thing.

Also work from home and 100% disagree. Can hardly get anything done with a 4 month old.

Oh no! Well, it gets easier as the kid gets older. But they say every kid is different so YMMV. I only have the one, he's 4, and he's pretty easy.

Suerte.

All of these are orders of magnitude more pleasant than daily standups etc.

As a man, I had the fortune to stay at home for several years with my child and it was the most wonderful time ever. Sure it's a lot of work, but also a lot of joy.

The statistics for what it is worth is 56% (kids) vs. 39% (no kids) women chosen "homemaker" option i.e., perhaps diapers are not as important.