Child care, mental health and job searching

Motherlode shared two stories on October 5, 2009 - one tragic and one ridiculous - about mothers solutions for temporary child care. 

So many parents struggle with how to job search while providing responsible care for their children.  In California, childcare easily runs over $1500 per month for an infant - an expense that is out of reach for many families where both parents incomes (if there are two parents involved) are required to support the family. 

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Is Racism natural (and why reading an article before commenting is a good idea)

Obviously not.  Newsweek's cover on Sept. 5 2009 raised the question if children are born racist to be deliberately provocative. The letters to the editor mostly conveyed that the writers didn’t read the article.  My fellow bloggers who are top ranked on Google don’t seem to have read it either – because the article clearly gave anyone who cares about eliminating racism clear actions to get towards that goal.  Apparently Maureen Dowd and Rush Limbaugh also didn't read the article.  If you do nothing else with this post - read it.  It inspired me to engage with my children on the topic of race.
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Old fashioned fun

It's very cool when something fun also is educational - and when kids come up with the activity on their own.  Over Labor Day Weekend, Benjamin wanted a very specific play date - with a schoolmate.  They had been talking about getting together to make a lemonade and cookies stand.  Benjamin had done this once over the summer with his brother and developed an appetite for generating extra money through entrepreneurship.
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Benchmarking my kid

It’s an unavoidable consequence of society that parents compare their child’s development and accomplishments versus the child’s peers – our friends’ kids and their classmates.  Dr. Jessica’s daughter is an incredibly voracious reader – she’s 12 days older than my eldest who is not, shall we say, voracious about reading in spite of the fact that both his parents love to read.  As the Rabbi taught us – kids are wired and our job as parents is to figure out their wiring.  This benchmarking comes at a cost...
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Definitely not slap-happy

This Monday, a 61 year old Wal-Mart shopper got so frustrated with someone else's crying toddler that he slapped the child.  Unbelievable, but true.  The gentleman was restrained and arrested for felony cruelty to children.  Which seems appropriate.

Of course, every person has been in his shoes - a screaming child in a store, on a plane or any other enclosed space can test your patience.  And every parent has been mortified when they cannot get their toddler (or worse, non-toddler, non-baby child) to stop screaming. Obviously, it's inexcuseable (and generally ineffective) to slap the child into silence.  But what can you do?

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