Twelve years ago, a nifty and somewhat revolutionary bill was passed, allowing employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for their own medical problems or for other family members. The Family and Medical Leave Act for the first time offered many parents a guarantee that they could take time with their newborns without walking away from their job. We love it over here at Rebel Dad. If there's any criticism worth making, it's that the law doesn't go anywhere near far enough.

Now, the fundamentals of that law are reputed to be under attack (thanks to Elizabeth at Half Changed World for bringing this to my attention). The Minneapolis Star-Tribune covers the topic here and the National Partnership for Women and Families has its call to action here. Elizabeth has a number of pointers on what you can do now; I heartily support all of them.

Even though the proposed changes are modest, it's worth noting that the FMLA is already a paltry right when compared to the rest of the world, and that smart proposals have been made to expand its scope.

I've said before and I'll say it again: if not for paid paternity leave, I would probably never have ended up walking down the path of Rebel Dad-hood. Laws that protect a parent's ability to spend time with their children are crucial. And efforts to roll back those laws suggest a real lack of perspective on how important that parent-child time is to mothers, fathers and kids.