Onward to Heartlessness

Rockamellon: There must be things about family that are above being monetized.

Socrato:  Why should that be so?  Wishing does not make a thing real, my friend.  Tell me something about family that is of value but cannot be translated into a dollar value.

Rockamellon:  What about love?

Socrato:  What about love, my dear Rockamellon?  Do you wish to investigate and see if there is value to love?

Rockamellon:  Yes.  I think that if we pursue the topic we shall find that love's value is intrinsic and that no monetary value can be placed on it.

Socrato:  I may wish for that to be true as well but we should not let our wishes or our instincts cloud where ever the logic make take us.

Rockamellon:  Of course, Socrato.

Socrato:  Very well.  Let us move on to investigate love.  When we talk about the love between members of a family, what do we mean?

Rockamellon:  Well we mean their willingness to sacrifice for one another.

Socrato:  I see.  In the way that the parents earn money and instead of spending it frivolously on themselves, they make sure that their children are well taken care of - education, health and the like.

Rockamellon:  That's one instance of sacrifice, surely.  But what about all the time the parents sacrifice to raise a child.

Socrato:  We've encountered this objection already - time is money.  Perhaps a more detailed explanation is required.

Rockamellon:  Please do as I don't think that the parent's time can be monetized - not when it comes to time spent with their own children.

Socrato:  What then, is the purpose of child care?

Rockamellon:  It is to give the parents time to do the work they need to accomplish.

Socrato:  I see.  And what is the medium of exchange?

Rockamellon:  Money, dear Socrato.  Legal tender.

Socrato:  So is it not possible for a parent to pay someone to take care of their child all the time?

Rockamellon:  I suppose, yes.

Socrato:  Therefore any time spent caring for the child done by the parent can simply be viewed as money saved not paying for child care.

Rockamellon:  That's absurd.  One could say that time spent sitting on the couch is money saved not paying for a bar tab.

Socrato:  That's not the argument I'm making.  It's necessary that the child be cared for.  It is not necessary to go to the bar.  Therefore child care can either be paid for, or done for free by a parent.

Rockamellon:  Or another family member.  What about a grandmother who watches a child?  Is that not a sacrifice of time done for love?

Socrato:  It is more hours of child care not paid for.  It is money saved in the family budget.

Rockamellon:  You are truly a heartless man, Socrato.

Socrato:  I merely follow the logic where it goes, friend.