Show Me the Money (or at Least the Paid Leave)

Longtime readers will remember my glee when California instituted a modest but first-in-the-nation paid parental leave program. Sadly, there hasn't been a lot of progress since then. But a group in New Jersey is trying to import the idea, and I'd like to join Miriam Peskowitz in asking "what can we do to make this happen?"

This gives me a great opportunity to get onto my paid leave soapbox: I happen to believe that paid leave offers parents an opportunity to spend time with newborns under better, less stressful conditions than the current stay-home-as-long-as-you-can-economically-stand-it approach. My own experiences with at-home fatherhood were probably a direct result of my paid paternity leave. Paid leave is not a panacea -- examples abound of fathers refusing to take advantage of these opportunities -- but it is an important step in creating the right conditions for not only at-home fatherhood, but more active and involved parenthood, period.

Speaking of Miriam, the award for best mommy wars post of the week has to got to go the this post from GTWD Brian from Miles, etc. Those squeamish about rough language or passionate commentary may want to take a pass.

Tags: sahd, mom, dad, worklife, mommywars, mommy+wars, paidleave