Classes have begun...the spring semester is here. I'm teaching online...all of my classes. I'm thankful to have the option. I don't want to put my sweet baby girl--at only 7 weeks of age--into childcare. So I will teach online, which means late nights, but who sleeps anyhow with a newborn baby. I'm thankful. But I can't help but be a bit resentful. Not at my employers who have gone above and beyond the American standard and who are all very supportive of me. But of a culture that doesn't support family better. I talk with my friends in Sweden who have a year leave...paid at 85-90% of their salaries, who never have to factor work into their decision to have, or not to have, children, who live in a society with true 'family values,' and I long for what could be. For while I am thankful for my schedule and I do love my job...my dream job...I also want to sleep when my baby sleeps, spend hours watching her doing nothing in particular, take walks with her in the sunshine, nourish her, care for her, be with her...and not be worried about how I'm going to get grading done or post the next week's learning unit. I want a country who recognizes and appreciates that the job of raising a child, the future of a nation, is work. And it is a work that cannot be measured monetarily, but also should not be penalized as such. I want a country that values my contribution of healthy, functioning, thinking girls. I want a country that values family.
