Summer 2009

Well I set this blog up as a way to keep all my peeps updated on my life when I don't have tie to do it indivually and guess what? I haven't made time to do even this... So update from the ast few months. The baby was bor (praise th Lord) and all went well . 6 pounds 4 ounces and 19 and 1/2 iches long. She is beautiful! She will be 6 months old this week and can't blieve how fast time flies. I am enjoing being a mom and am amazed eveyday by how gratifying i is to watch her grow and develop. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Child Care and Poverty

After our class discussion yesterday on child abuse and the Family Child Support Center I was thinking about child abuse and child care. I found this article discussing poverty and child abuse and how they relate to each other. During this semester as I've blogged about child care and maternity leave etc... I have focused quite a bit on the needs of the parents (due probably to becoming a parent myself) however, it was beneficial for me to read this article and then look at it from the childs perspective. If there are not child care options for low income families (or any families) the risk factors for child abuse increase. So although my other post shows that congress has pout monies into child care options for families who qualify for TANF it is not enough. Good options for child care not only assist the parents in their juggling act but also may assist parents in preventing child abuse by offering them the assistance they need to be able to cope with their day to day struggles.
In summary this issue of child care in the US is huge, and in my opinion (which is now an educated opinion) requires more attention at the policy level.

Money for child care

While this report is a little bit old (2003) it is encouraging to me that congress was willing to put monies into assisting at least some of the families in our nation who are in need of assistance. The money discussed in this article is used to target those who are are low income (by definition of qualifying for TANF) Although this is a step in the right direction and low income families definitely need the assistance I still think that there are many families in our nation who would benefit from a ssistance in caring for their children. Whether this assistance is monetary to help with day care or in the form of social policy to encourage employers to offer paid maternity leave ore even offer day care for the children at work. Of one thing I am sure... we are still greatly lacking.

Child care gets funding!

I thought that this article was interesting. Apparently in North Dakota Senate Bill 2225 passed 68-25. This bill has been designed to help those struggling to find and afford day care. It is set up as a matching of private funds with state funds. Because child care and work are so dependent on each other I think that this is a really good idea. I'm excited to see how this works out and see if other states will follow suite. Any thoughts?

Who Should Qualify for Maternity/Paternity Leave?

I read in the news that there is a Gay couple in Israel who was granted the first paternity leave for a homosexual couple. as we are preparing to discuss gay marriage in class I was interested in your thoughts on paternity leave for homosexual couples as well as your thoughts on the rights of homosexuals to choose to parent in general whether it be through surrogacy or invitro?

6 weeks to Recover?

I'm back! Sorry I've been kinda outta things for a while but I'm gonna try to get back into the blogging thing again. The article that I'm posting is quite descriptive of the recovery process after a vaginal delivery. If you are bothered by descriptions than don't read it! (this is my disclaimer so as not to offend) However I thought that it was relevant to the issue of maternity/paternity leave to take a look at the recovery process from having a baby. I also chose this article because it is completely relevant to me as I am currently going through the recovery process myself. As indicated by the article there is a lot involved in birth and recovery and not all women are the same. However, despite this the amount of time allotted to a new mom to recover and re-establish her life is often capped at about 6 weeks. What are the implications of a woman (and her baby) being thrust back into work child care (for an infant) and mainstream life. Although I am currently enjoying my maternity leave and have been missing quite a bit of school, I am personally dreading the day (which rapidly approaches) when I have to put my brand new baby in a day care so I can return to work in order to stay above the poverty threshhold (see Patricias' post). I don't really have any solutions to what I see as a real problem but am curious about others' thought and or experiences.

To Stay Home or Not?

I read this great article from the washington post titled Who Should Care for This Child? its an interesting and thought provoking article about making decisions about child care and all the factors which must be considered. Is a full time stay at home really the best or only if that is what her aspirations are? Can a woman afford to stay home or is child care to expensive to be worth it? Would a child be better served by a mother with a career who has more finicial resources available? The author of the article says... It depends! On what works the best for the parent, because whatever works best for the parent will ultimately be the best for the child too=) Now does that sound like someone from the sanguine camp to you? I thought so... but I am curious what your thoughts and reactions are to the article.