The working world, when it was male dominant, was 100x more fun to work in. Guys could "shoot-the-shit" with each other, say whatever they wanted and competitiveness was seen as fun not as "toxic". The work environment when it was male dominant made people better because the men would compete with one another and strive to improve. Work was actually a lot more "fun" and in some ways it was a "safe-space" for men to get away from all the drama and toxicity that existed in their personal lives.
Women have utterly destroyed the workplace. Men's lives are inarguably much worse with women in the workplace. Nothing good has come of this.
When you mentioned competition it made me think, to be honest I really don't try anymore at work. Not that I do a bad job, but being I'm in the corporate world there's really zero incentive to push yourself anymore. Simply being decent is above average anyway and when you get to a certain point you're really blocked out of advancement options. Not that I'd even want to advance to that anymore because at that same threshold everything about the job becomes political.
Like the other said too, women's lives are worse off as well. If I were to think about women I know who are the happiest, the whopping two women I know who are stay-at-home mom's for the most part would definitely be very high on the list. I'd not even say it's because they get to sit home and be lazy all day. The women put in the competitive environments just aren't cut out for it. Men can compete with each other one minute then go have a drink with each other the next. Women are too cutthroat, their competition becomes a part of them and they can't let it go. Their nature is to not allow them to disconnect things it seems.
"I'd not even say it's because they get to sit home and be lazy all day." I'm sure you're not saying a stay-at-home Mom sits home and is lazy all day?
I could give examples of those that do and don't.
Ad a stay at home Mom with a 5 month old and an insanely wild boy who's going to be 2 in two months...I'm not sure how any sahm can just laze around all day. This is the most high stress, frantic existence I've ever lived. Even now, I just got one to sleep and I'm feeding the other...next I have to frantically do the dishes and put the laundry in the dryer before one of them wakes up. My husband works on ships...when he left he told me he feels like he's going on vacation and he has no idea how I do it alone. I can't even construct a scenario in my imagination where a sahm could be lazy if she wanted to.
Part of the challenge is that historically, women never raised kids in a setting alone. No woman before the last 100 years had to do what you are doing. Kids were raised in the company of many other children, teenagers, other moms, and also men who were around much more. Nearly everyone used to be farmers on plots of land next to their homes. And there weren't dangerous things everywhere, like chemicals, scissors, electrical sockets, etc. You could literally just let a kid roam and hope the wolves didn't get them. If a child died it was definitely sad, but mom wouldn't be thrown in prison, either.
I notice when I'm around my little nieces and nephews, the parents visibly relax and everyone just kind of keeps their eyes open for the kids. It's way more peaceful and I think it's better for the kids, too.
You're presuming the kids are at home. The one I know of the kids are at school and from what I can tell the extent of what she does is pick them up from school and I guess put up with them for an hour after. It's probably an unusual dynamic but it's one of the more lopsided relationships I've seen that has gone on that long
Easy, abandon any and all duty and responsibility. Have someone you've abused sufficiently to break their will pick up the slack for you, be it parents, partners or elder offspring.