I'm referring to a family needing two cars to get to their two jobs. The second income may be significantly less than the primary, but full time hours are the same. Based on my own back of the envelope not at all scientific or Bayesian adjusted maths, that second income gets largely swallowed up in things like car repayments and child care. When you also factor in possible detrimental effects on a child's development, this way we have constructed society seems to me like a fool's bargain.
Okay, that's what I was guessing, but it's confusing because even in a traditional family with a breadwinner and a stay-at-home spouse, you often need two cars to get the breadwinner to work and the spouse to... well, anywhere outside the home, kids' activities etc. The two car lifestyle in America is about sprawl and bad urban planning.
All that aside, my family is doing something like you're describing. We do come out ahead but not by much. Some women genuinely want to work outside the home, and the kids are at school anyway.
