Childcare changes everything for me
Plus: Hear from parents of queer kids and pregnancy justice advocate
I’ve got a great idea for a new children’s book. Are you ready for the title?
If You Give A Mom an Hour of Childcare
It’s in the style of “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie,” but instead of sharing baked goods and meandering toward many adventures, it outlines all that we can accomplish with a woman’s ability to bend time. In an hour, I could write a blog post, set up a new company, arrange play dates for my kiddos and order the groceries and Father’s Day gifts.
I’m re-learning this fact now that Evie started daycare last week. The few days before she started, I was a puddle of unanticipated and ambiguous grief of “lasts” - last baby, last frozen bags of breastmilk, last full days of her attached at my hip, last day of a 10-month routine of 24/7 caregiving. It took a couple of days, a few baths with CBD bath salt and many canceled meetings to get to a point where I wasn’t obsessively checking our daycare app to see if she was okay.
I’ve emerged back into the world as the multihyphenate, but in a new way. Business owner, movement and milk-maker, writer, and mom of two. Someone who is navigating a new world, again. A person who has the privilege of paying way too much for childcare, and yet, wouldn’t trade it for the world.
A woman who finally can put down the brain that fires on all cylinders to make sure a baby’s needs are met. One that can finally listen to her own voice for a change.
So what would happen if you give a mom an hour of childcare? She’d get shit done and change the world. She’d bring others along while she climbed.
Let’s make it happen, shall we? Learn more about the #CaucusforChildcare and bipartisan effort by Representatives Ro Khanna (D) and Nancy Mace (R ) and share it with others to help it gain traction. Reshma Saujani and the Moms First team is doing incredible work on making affordable childcare a reality.
The Latest on the Blog
Do’s and Don’ts: When Your Kid Comes Out
And the stories of those who’ve been through it, in honor of Pride Month.Building BEAM, A Movement
What We’re Watching
The developing story out of Florida where a Black Mother was fatally shot amid ongoing arguments with her neighbor. See the latest.
When my friend Jodi-Ann Burey talks, I listen. Here’s a clip from her commencement address at the University of Washington’s Black Graduation and Kente Ceremony.
This interview with Lynn Paltrow, a pregnancy justice advocate fighting for women in ‘Life After Roe.’
Tribeca Film alert! Want to be inspired at how women can start a non-profit newsroom that focuses on - wait for it - women’s issues? The 19th’s documentary “Breaking the News” just premiered at Tribeca on Thurs. (I stan Emily Ramshaw and Erinn Haines - and financially support The 19th.)
The ongoing culture wars taking place in Target stores over Pride merchandise.
Made You Laugh
Ted Lasso made me laugh and dream and hope a little. I BELIEVE!
