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Strollerderby
Paternity leave is becoming more common
A dad is suing the law firm where he used to work as an associate for retaliating after he took a parental leave. Though his leave was protected by FMLA, he lost his job four months after returning to work.
He says the two are directly connected, and that the “macho culture” in his law office created an atmosphere that led to his being punished and eventually fired for putting his family first.
Ariel Ayanna says the senior people in his workplace regularly bragged about how little time they spent on family obligations, while Ayanna took time off to care for his newborn child and mentally ill wife.
The case has grabbed attention from work/life balance advocates, who point out that men are an increasingly important part of the conversation. Cases like this one demonstrate that work/life balance isn’t strictly a women’s issue. Men have childcare obligations as well, and increasingly need to balance their family needs against their careers.
Why I wanted to pack my bags: Viking-style parenting looks like a day at the best beach on earth.
In last night’s State of the Union address, President Obama concluded by saying: “I know there isn’t a person here who would trade places with any other nation on the earth.”
When he said that, I must admit to tearing up a little, and in my heart, I thought: “Yes! Right on, Mr. President!” But then I remembered: “Hey, wait a minute … what about the time when I wanted to be Swedish?”
Years ago, when we were on the cusp of becoming parents, my husband and I traveled to Sweden to visit friends. Because babies were on our minds, I was intrigued by how our Swedish friends were managing life as new parents. And while it’s been many years since that visit, and times and policies have surely changed, what I saw then is what I still long for today:
Good maternity leave benefits.
Out of 173 countries worldwide, the United States is one of only five that doesn’t guarantee paid leave to give birth and care for a newborn.
Life is going to knock us down, in ways we won't see coming.
Yesterday, I read Katy Read’s “Regrets of a Stay-at-Home Mom” piece on Salon.com, and haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. She writes the article as a “warning to new mothers,” describing her own experience of how she opted-out of full-time work years ago to focus on her family, and now, after a divorce, is “permanently, financially screwed.”
I feel for her. She did what she thought was best for her family, and now she feels that she’s paying the price for it. Regret is a heavy burden. As I sat there reading her piece, I thought: “So, what’s the takeaway, here?” I mean, I may as well be Katy Read, in the years before she wrote this piece. When my oldest was born, I opted to forgo a full-time job with benefits in order to be at home more. I’ve been working in contract jobs ever since, taking on as much work as I can, while still trying to strike that balance between having time for the kids and all the things that need to happen for our family and our household to function. I have the sweetest, most supportive spouse. I believe that our marriage is strong, and I’d like to think that it will last ‘til death do us part. But, Katy thought that, too.
Working and pumping at the nation's Capitol
An article in The Seattle Times today highlights one of the perks of a Capitol Hill job gaining popularity and affection these days — the lactation suite, aka “the boob cube.”
New mothers who work in Congress used to lug their own pumps to work, hide in the bathrooms, and squat near an available electrical outlet (sound familiar?).
Not anymore. A trend is spreading in Washington that gives breastfeeding moms a state-of-the art pumping an nursing experience. Here’s what new motherhood looks like amid the votes and the bills in the nation’s capitol: Continue reading »
Work Life
Like the so-called “mommy wars” between working moms and stay-at-home moms, there’s another battle reportedly going on between working parents and their “childfree” colleagues. I put “childfree” in quotes because it’s a newly coined word — a more positive spin on “childless” or “non-parents.”
I’m not sure if this war is anything new since it seems as if the issue is raised every couple of years or so with “childfree” workers complaining that they have to pick up the slack for working parents who cut out early and make excuses.
“[I]t’s often the childfree employees who pick up the slack because of a co-worker’s flexible schedule, holiday plans, or maternity leave,” writes Katherine Reynolds Lewis in The Fiscal Times.
This seems to be a gross generalization. The working parents I know bring work home or come into the office early to make up for times that they leave work to attend a parent-teacher conference. But the childfree are pissed off about what they see as unfair treatment.
In Sweden, this guy just might be earning 2 grand right now.
Sweden has long been a progressive place when it comes to its workforce thanks, largely, to a government which is genuinely concerned for the humanity of its population.
At least thats what it seems like to me. Why else would they institute policies which create more flexible work days? Or pass legislation that makes it easier for employees to obtain sabbaticals which allow for the pursuit of outside interests? Sweden’s government strives to create an environment in which employees can actually obtain some semblance of the oft discussed work-life balance, and that’s a very humanitarian objective.
The most recent example of such humanitarianism concerns the family. The Globe and Mail recently reported that thanks to their government, Swedish dads, who already enjoy generous paternity leaves, can now earn cash bonuses for taking full advantage of them. To earn these bonuses, all they have to do is take an equal amount parenting leave as their wives. And if they do, that’s not all they’ll earn. Continue reading »
Ready for lunch?
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends mothers breastfeed for twelve months. As Heather Turgeon tells us, three out of four new mothers in the US start to breastfeed, but by six months, almost 80 percent have stopped. Statistics vary by state (in Oregon 60 percent of moms are still breastfeeding at six months while in Louisiana the six month number is 20 percent), but the bottom line is while some breastfeeding is happening, the AAP’s year-long recommendation is too long.
It would seem that after the initial period of is-that-baby-latched, following through with breastfeeding baby to the second half of the first year wouldn’t be so hard. And yet, it was hard for me, and clearly I wasn’t alone. Why is that?
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