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Strollerderby
When my first son was born, my wife and I had the nearly full-time help of my sister-in-law and my mother-in-law and still we were overwhelmed and run ragged by the demands of caring for a newborn baby. Almost eight years later (and with two more kids added to the mix), we’re even more tired and worn out. I simply could not imagine how much work it must be to raise children without the help of friends and family, let alone as a single parent. And yet, many amazing people manage to do just that. According to some researchers, however, that may not be such a good thing.
There are a lot of reasons to have kids: free labor, picking up chicks, and, of course, the tax deduction. That last one was popular in my home when I was growing up — my father was a Certified Public Accountant and we kids all knew the tax advantage of children. Sadly, as one single mom found out, you don’t necessarily get that tax deduction just for having kids. As far as the IRS is concerned, she doesn’t have any kids because she’s too poor to support them.
I know times are tough, but this is troubling news: Half of all American children are expected at some point to be on food stamps. That statisitic is based on research conducted at Cornell University, who analyzed the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. That study followed about 4,800 households in the U.S. over the course of 32 years.
Even more troubling, Continue reading »
It’s so, so easy to judge other parents. And when those parents are really and truly bad — not “I yelled at my kid in the grocery store” or “I let them watch craploads of TV” bad, but really really bad, like “I lost my kids to foster care because I’d leave them for days at a time while I went in search of more meth” bad — it’s impossible not to.
But this very well-written column from the LA Times looks at the hurdles many mothers face as they attempt to get their lives back together and win the chance to parent their children again. Continue reading »
Worried that kid really doesn’t look like you? Quick, it’s time to head south – way south. The State of Mississippi will be offering free paternity tests to fathers (or suspected baby daddies anyway) on certain days throughout the month of September.
Why now? Turns out it’s all about the dough. Continue reading »
With so much focus on the recession right now, and foreclosures and the unemployment rate making news, it can be easy to forget that for some people times have always been tough. For people collecting welfare, the barriers to getting off welfare are high, and women are especially hard hit.
This article from the Journal of the University of Michigan’s School of Social Work is poorly written, but presents some fascinating facts about the enormous obstacles placed on people trying to get off welfare rolls. One researcher calls the supports necessary for any family a four-legged stool, and if any of those legs are missing just getting through the day gets a whole lot harder:
Continue reading »
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