Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Family values-A rant



So I am over, OVER the politicians on both sides of the aisle that say they stand for family values as talking points....but do nothing for true family values.

Let me back up a little and say that this rant was sparked as I went out in the middle of the night to get Ocoee some diaper cream and heard a great discussion on the local show, Kids these days, discussing maternity and paternity leave in America.

The U. S. comes in at #31 among 43 developed countries ranked! We do not get ANY guaranteed maternity or paternity leave no matter what job you are in or how long you have been there.

My own leave situation was like this. Oh your a teacher, have the baby in the summer. Um, that doesn't work for everyone and you can't plan baby making it seems....believe me, I tried. I was also on a tight timeline due to some medical issues.

So when baby Ocoee was born I used the Family Medical Leave Act to insure I would still have my job and benefits....lots of paperwork there. I then had to use all my sick days and personal days that I had been saving for 3 years...and it still wasn't enough to get me to the 8 weeks paid the school district allowed me....so I had to borrow from the sick leave bank. Thank goodness I had always donated in the past, because these days helped out. I was only allowed to take 8 weeks paid (2 more weeks than most due to the C-section). Even if I had saved more days I could not use them....great right?

The other 6 weeks I took off (14 total) was unpaid.

Hubby, also had to take six days he had saved. Which amounted to about 3 weeks total. His employer was pretty good at letting him split these up part time to stretch it out and he has also done a few work from home days that we are so grateful for.

But if your keeping score.....neither of us got any paid leave...just our sick days. How is that for family values.

The funny thing is as an educator I also see the correlation between the countries with the best leave policies also have some of those test scores that politicians are always riding teachers about...because they kick our butts.

Could it be that countries that truly have family values also value education and put policies and money into education in the right way. Also could it be that families in these countries, have the time to spend with there kids in a way that prepares them for school and sets them up for success. Because as an educator I can tell you the difference between the kids that thrive and the ones that fall behind......is....parent involvement! Period. Not money, or socioeconomic status. Just good old elbow grease in the parenting department.

Check out the stats here. Because as my hubby says...the numbers don't lie.

Off my soap box now.

We head to Seattle tomorrow morning. Ocoee's second plane trip and first time to Seattle. The weather is quite balmy in the 50's with sunshine....so we will get out and about, playing big city mommy and baby! So check in for post about our adventures.

Also make sure to click the TOP BABY blogs icon on the right to vote for us...they just reset the rankings so we have a chance to rise to the top!

Cheers
J