NOW THAT'S NOT FUNNY

Breastfeeding: Telling Moms WHAT TO DO

Today the New York Times actually wrote an EDITORIAL about breastfeeding.

If the government and the do-what-I-say-do crusaders want to get into the business of telling women they need to breastfeed... then...

Then the government and the do-what-I-say-do crusaders should be willing to put the money where their big mouths are. By that I mean, if a women is employed and wants to nurse her new born baby then make sure her job is protected while she takes a year or two off to stay home with her baby, AND PAY HER THE MONEY SHE'D HAVE EARNED. Yes, I meant exactly what I said.

It's not unpresidented for a mother or a father to stay home and raise their children - AND BE PAID A LIVING WAGE:

Norway Pays a Price for Family Values
By T. R. Reid, Washington Post, Sunday 1 November 1998; Page A26
Parents Receive Stipends To Stay Home With Children
OSLO, Norway—Like countless other women around the world, Suranhild Aenstad decided to leave her job and stay at home after her first child was born. Unlike most other young mothers, though, she paid no financial penalty for choosing family over office.

Aenstad was hired by the Norwegian government for a new line of work—staying home to raise her own daughter. The state paid the new mother a yearly salary of $18,800, or 80 percent of what she made as a secretary. With the savings on clothes and commuting, Aenstad came out slightly ahead.

Last spring the baby, Serine—a buoyant blue-eyed blond with a smile as brilliant as the autumn sun glistening on the Oslofjord beneath her nursery window—celebrated her first birthday. At that point, Suranhild Aenstad turned the household duties over to her husband, Martin, who quit his job to stay home. So now it is he who receives a monthly paycheck from the government for raising his own child.

Politicians in Norway love to talk about family values, and in that they're no different from politicians almost everywhere else. What's different here is that Norway has put its money where its mouth is.

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/61/331.html

And here:

State Secretary Hans Olav Syversen, Ministry of Children and Family Affairs, Norway



Conciliation between work and family- the Norwegian experience
Norwegian – Spanish seminar on situation of women by Norwegian Embassy of Spain

Madrid, 13 June 2005

Excerpt:
Good life for families

The parental leave period connected to childbirths has been gradually extended, and is currently 42 weeks with full wage compensation or 52 weeks with eighty percent wage compensation. The parents are secured the right of returning to the same or a similar job position after the parental leave period.

News
A look at modern Norway: Shooting for more family time

http://www.norway.org/News/archive/1999/199902family.htm

And there's more, but I think I've made my point.

There is so much more good a country's government can do than start wars, condone torture, and prosecute soldiers for crimes they would have never commited if not for their government having sent them half way around the world...

Of course, I wish I'd have known this about Norway during my child-bearing years...

NORWAY PAYS PARENTS TO STAY HOME
BY GWENDOLYN LANDOLT

http://www.fotf.ca/familyfacts/commentaries/050298.html

excerpt:
Their concerns mirror the worries of French feminist, Simone de Beauvoir, who stated in her book, The Second Sex, that women should not be given a choice to remain at home because too many women will make that choice. Certainly Canadian women would make such a choice. A Decima Poll, in July 1991, found that 70 percent of Canadian women would prefer to remain at home if they were financially able to do so.

The Canadian government's most recent budget increased child care deductions by $2,000 for each child under age 7 and $1,000 for each child age 7 to 16, for families paying a nanny, babysitter or other child care provider. In real money, this means that child care deductions are now $7,000 (up from $5,000) for children under age 7, and $4,000 (up from $3,000) for older children.

The following link is just so ya'll know there are crazies everywhere - not just in America:

Dutch Feminazis Want to Punish Educated Mothers

http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/946

***

And here in America what happens if your child gets sick? Well keep reading and then tell me America is doing all it can do for it's youngest citizens:

The right to leave of absence if the child or childminder is ill

The right to leave of absence if a child or childminder is ill is laid down in Section 33A of the Working Environment Act. The right to benefits is laid down in Chapter 9 of the National Insurance Act.

The right to leave of absence

Sick children

http://odin.dep.no/bld/english/doc/handbooks/004071-120005/hov006-bn.html

I don't know what's its like to live in other countries (I did spend 21 days in Costa Rica, but I wouldn't want to live there) - but at the rate things are going here in Bush's NEW America... if I was young and had the opportunity and the health I seriously think I'd consider moving permanately.

What do you think?










The New York Times
Editorial
About Breast-Feeding ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/opinion/02sun2.html?ex=1309492800&en=b67e5a619...