My Miss America platform issue is going to be remedying the lack of affordable child care in this country. I am a well educated, gainfully employed person, living within my means and even still, the cost of child care teeters on the brink of worthiness relative to my take home pay.
It is sick and wrong. And then it begs ugly, awful questions. Is a child in more affordable (read: provider doesn't have a PhD in nannying, higher ratios, shabbier looking rooms) care in danger? Will they be loved and cared for adequately? What is the price for a safe and happy place and if you balk at it what does that say about you as a parent?
These are shitty questions to throw into the mix when the idea of leaving them is already hard.
And bullshit to those who don't think this is a women's issue. I make less and have been at my job less time than my husband. Not to mention any unspoken loss of respect toward me thanks to being pregnant and then on leave. Add in the biological,historical and cultural expectations the mother has and you can guess which partner is more pressured to stay home. Shit, my female boss was semi-discouraging my return.
It isn't right. How can we at least take child care out of the equation?
There is nothing I wouldn't do to make sure that my baby has what he needs, but has society broken down so much -or is society so stalled- that my options to give him what he needs are so pitiful?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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