Brush Stroke
October 3, 2013 
     
Greetings! 

After 16 torturous days our government is back to doing the business of the people. Hooray or Boo? Should we be congratulating them on finally getting their acts together or taking a hard look at what went wrong in the first place?  Let me know your thoughts
Check Out What's In This Issue
DC Dispatch: Chaos of the Shutdown
Obamacare -...Train Wreck or an End to Discrimination?
"We Are Going to Most Regret The Way We Treated Mothers and Children"
Pre-K: Can You See the Benefits Beyond Your Own Family?
A Refreshing Dose of Reality
Your Gift Makes a Difference for Families
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The National Association of Mothers' Centers (NAMC) provides programs that empower mothers, fathers and caregivers to find solutions that work for their families, their work lives and their personal lives.
                DispatchDC Dispatch: Chaos of the Shutdown

Valerie Young

The disastrous shutdown of the federal government was so much more than a power struggle over political differences.  Senator Elizabeth Warren illuminates what's going on in this powerful 2 minute video. It has plunged millions of families into chaos and suffering, and its consequences will only get more dire.  Already reeling from the cuts of sequestration, programs that feed poor women and children, provide child care and job training, medical care, and help for victims of domestic violence are out of cash or soon will be.  The US Congress is shirking its responsibility to American citizens in the most vicious possible way.  Wider Opportunities for Women is keeping a tally of all the ways the shutdown is inflicting cruel and unusual punishment on our most vulnerable households.  Righteous rage is certainly in order. 

ObamacareObamacare -  Train Wreck or an End to Discrimination?

 

The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, has stirred up a lot of debate.  But let's look at the changes it makes in health care for women:

  • No longer can women be charged higher premiums just for being women;
  • Coverage for the expenses of giving birth can no longer  be excluded from health insurance policies;
  • Lactation support now has to be covered, as well as cancer screenings, contraception, and routine preventive care.
  • No more caps on lifetime coverage - if you get really sick and your care is really expensive, your insurance won't run out.
  • Mental health care coverage has to be included, and  you can't be refused because you have a pre-existing condition.

This sounds like family economic security to me.  The birth of your child, a cancer diagnosis, or a traumatic car accident don't necessarily mean family poverty anymore.  For more reasons Obamacare might deserve your support, look at Stay At Home Pundit's25 Things That Are Awesome About Obamacare.  To get information about how the law extends coverage and how to take advantage of it, visit the National Women's Law Center's page called "We've Got You Covered" a more comprehensive explanation here.

Regret"We Are Going to Most Regret The Way We Treated Mothers and Children".

 

mother and son Father and blogger Matt Walsh goes to the mat in defense of the stay at home mother.  here's an excerpt, but you will want to read the WHOLE post, trust me.

 

This conversation shouldn't be necessary. I shouldn't need to explain why it's insane for anyone - particularly other women - to have such contempt and hostility for "stay at home" mothers. Are we really so shallow? Are we really so confused? Are we really the first culture in the history of mankind to fail to grasp the glory and seriousness of motherhood? The pagans deified Maternity and turned it into a goddess. We've gone the other direction; we treat it like a disease or an obstacle.


NAEYC Program Nancy Folbre, an expert on the economics of family care, knows how crucial really good early education can be, and how much we stand to lose for falling behind other countries in figuring out how to deliver it to our children.  In a recent New York Times Economix blog post, she writes:

 

I've touched on some of the reasons for resistance to increased public investment in children in earlier posts. Sometimes the issue is framed as one of disagreement over social cost-benefit analysis, but many economists, most famously James Heckman of the University of Chicago, offer powerful evidence of a high social rate of return in the form of improved outcomes for children. The net benefits loom even larger when the value of increased work flexibility for parents is added in.

 

Better outcomes for our children, more economic opportunity for parents, especially moms, who bear most of the burden at home.  This is exactly the kind of work public policy is designed to do.

RealityA Refreshing Dose of Reality

 

Nothing makes me madder faster than the argument that mothers either "work" or "stay at home" as a function of lifestyle choice, and thus no change in how we value care or structure paid work is necessary.   There are so many other, more compelling forces involved that for many, personal preference doesn't enter into it.  Perhaps the household requires your income.  Perhaps your employment requires a 60 - 80 hour week. It was such a relief to be sent this piece from a devoted reader, "Staying At Home for the Love of It"

 

The conversation about stay-at-home parenthood versus paid work is forever stalled on the notion of choice. This is particularly the case if you are a woman, where the discussion focuses on whether you made the right choice and whether it was a selfish decision and also, what implications it had for others - your children, your husband and even, taxpayers. But how many of us really feel unconstrained choice when it comes to work and family?

 

Not many, I bet.  We're fooling ourselves if we think these decisions get made in a vacuum.  Personal attitudes, gender-norms, and cultural prejudices pretty much eliminate the possibility a true free exercise of choice amongst equally acceptable options in the family and work interplay.

Mothers with baby

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