As a young attorney I experienced a Tammy Duckworth moment when I took my newborn to a court hearing. It has remained ingrained in my memory for 35 years. See http://regoparkbroad.blogspot.com/2018/04/my-tammy-duckworth-moment.html
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I am proud to call Tammy Duckworth my senator, as she breaks down another barrier, after breaking down the disabled war veteran barrier and the women in active duty barrier.
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this is a sad commentary on what is becoming of the west. children deserve a better environment than being drug along with their mothers to a workplace and breast fed in bathrooms etc when their mothers get the occasional break from the grind of their jobs. I have personally been training women, when they have taken a break to go into a dirty and disgusting auto body shop bathroom and pump milk into a container for their children to be feed at a later time. a lot of women are miserable at this situation, and I have had some honest discussions about this stuff with female co-workers. modern women are a pretty miserable bunch judging from happiness indexes and it is long past due to have honest discussions about where our society is going in the long run, or if western birthrates will be able to sustain a population in the future. no western nation even has a replacement birth rate, that is scary stuff for the future, and for women.
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I find the simple humanity and decency of Tammy with her baby in the halls of congress to be shocking. This is no respectable place to bring a baby. The entire place is overrun with gargoyles and monsters. I would not let any child of mine within 60,000 feet of Mitch McConnell or Ted Cruz.
That being said, blessings upon Tammy and her beautiful child.
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Ey, I'm not a fan. Workplace edict and professionalism is calibrated for adult interaction. Kids disrupt this dynamic. Co-workers aren't family; they don't want your kid around. If they say they don't mind, there're likely lying. And no, child friendly workplaces don't attract -- or help retain -- higher quality employees. In fact, it's the opposite.
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My hope is that all those legislators who pass bills raising the national debt by trillions will look at this baby and be reminded of the burdens they are placing on the next generation.
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Most working mothers are NOT like Tammy Duckworth.
Most working moms cannot take their newborn infants or any other age child to work.
Most working moms are NOT in the same economic category as Tammy Duckworth.
Many working Moms are single parents.
So please, Working Moms are NOT like Tammy Duckworth.
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most working mothers certainly don't have the same health insurance as a us senator.
that being said, any step towards fixing mat/patnerity care in this country is a wonderful step.
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It's nice that the author's mother ran her own business and had some control over the circumstances in which she worked. It's common for small business owners to claim that they are slaves to the business and can take no time away from it. Yet most small business owners won't lose their jobs over child birth. They do have more control than most employees and can bring the baby to work with them.
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I've never been a mother, just father and grandfather, but isn't 10 days old a little young to face all those germs and other contaminants of life.
I have no problem with Senator Duckworth going back to work to vote, but the baby might have benefited from a more sterile environment.
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Early exposure boosts immunity.
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Yeah, Eric, but infants have a weakened immune system, have received no vaccines except the Hep B vaccine because their immune system is too immature to receive vaccines or other kind of infectious agent that are floating around in the air.
Publicity stunt..
I'm currently two weeks from my due date with my second child. I'm also a working musician, and as a self-employed individual I don't get any sort of paid maternity leave. When I found out I was pregnant I was already solidly booked for 7 out of the next 10 months, including every weekend in April and May. Thankfully the venues that have hired me are all very understanding and aren't holding my contracts against me, any weekends I don't appear I simply don't get paid. So far, I haven't missed any bookings. People were amazed to see me behind my harp last weekend, and as long as my doctor says I'm good to go, I'll be on stage next weekend too. I know it's risky, because the current venue is 3 hours from my hospital, but every weekend I miss amounts to a financial crisis for my family. Some family friends are critizing me for continuing to perform so close to my due date, but I notice none of them are offering to pay our bills. I'm hoping to be back to work in one or two weeks after giving birth, but that all depends on how labor and delivery go.
Seeing Tammy Duckworth on the Senate floor with her newborn really made me hopeful that perhaps there will be progress for all the working mothers of this country. I remember running off stage to nurse my first daughter and then getting right back out there, and I'll work every day I can until this baby is born.
Thank you for sharing the story of your mother. I'm sure many will find it familiar.
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It's sad that this is the reality for so many Americans, who live in the world's most powerful country. All that military hardware and tax cuts for the rich could have paid everyone a living wage and social benefits. But I've lost hope that it will happen.
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Ms. Lett, Your essay is beautifully written and expresses the pride and love of your working mom. Slowly but surely the raising of children will become more of a shared process and more easily integrated into a person's working day. It takes a village.
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God bless her! I don't think I could do that at 50.
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This is a great woman, no doubt about that.
But this is small news, she's a woman, she had a baby, do we have to have five articles a day on her.....
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This is BIG news! Another barrier for women broken!
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"She's a woman." Yes, like a little over 50% of our population.
"It's small news..." No.
The "World's Greatest Deliberative Body" (however self congratulatory it may be) changed its rules to accommodate the working class mom of a newborn baby in its workspace. That's not peanuts, to that half of the potential workforce.
Now, they could move to make that cloakroom handicapped accessible, too, so there could perhaps be a little privacy for the mom.
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It really isn't conducive to the workplace for either children to be raised in the workplace, or the adults to expect the children to be right next to them in all their jobs, such as teaching, nursing, medicine, law, carpentry, mechanic, model, technology, etc.. Nursing babies should of course be allowed to be with their mothers as long as the mother feels a need to nurse. The idea that children should be born, and somehow, we are now supposed to figure out how to fit them into the lives of working mothers, many of them without a husband, or father of the child in the relationship, is what is leaving too many children angry, neglected, disinterested in school, and often acting out. The right relationship, some situations that work out for having the child there with the adult work out, for the most part, they don't.
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"conducive to the workplace" is the wrong point of reference.
Conducive to the workplace's keeping an experienced, valued employee; Conducive of respect for the importance and dignity of parenthood; Conducive of the workplace's being a well integrated human group; Conducive of children's being included in society, not shuffled far away from where (non-economic and economic) productivity and social usefulness are palpable norms and practices -- and so on -- should be the points of reference for judging whether this tiny girl's presence at the Senate was an important symbol.
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In an ideal world, and if the parent or parents involved wish to do so, it would be wonderful to be at home for as long as one wishes. But, in many parts of the country that is no longer possible. Houses, even 2BR 1BA, in my town start at one million, the median rent is over $3,000. It takes two working parents to live here. If we do not figure out how to fit children into the lives of working parents, we are not going to have enough children born into this country to sustain it.
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Yes! Employers need to be more flexible about infants in the workplace and onsite daycare if they want to retain good talent and unless we can expand new parent leave policies to at 6 months at minimum. As someone who is relatively new at my job, I am not eligible for FMLA, which leaves me with no job protection and only 6 weeks leave. Some have even less. I am at a loss as to what to do, but pray our family will be able to cobble something together or my employer will be flexible about me working from home. Breastfeeding, for those who choose it, is so important. I wish those powerful policy makers who claim to be pro-life and "family values" saw the value in supporting mothers and fathers after the baby arrives.
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Places that have on-site day care where mothers can continue to breastfeed after returning to work find they are able to retain valuable employee. It's been shown that it really is better for the employer as well as for the employee and infant. It requires that the employer be open to innovation but it pays off for the company in a he long term.
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The #morewomen we have in the Senate and the House and in state and local governments, the more policies will change to respond to the needs of women and children. Thanks for telling your mother's story as a working woman.
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Now that the no-kids-on-the-Senate-floor ice has been broken, we may quickly start to see the US Senate floor fill with the small children and grandchildren of Senators who bring them out onto the floor to be present at votes on historic legislation. Or even the children of neighbors or of visiting constituents.
And why ever not?
The custom that quickly grew up in European professional football (soccer) over the last two decades, in which players walk out onto the field accompanied by child "mascots," grew from nonexistent to routine in less than 30 years.
it would just be good if we had a Senate that actually functioned acted like one, passing legislation the kids would be proud of.
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In American no woman should have go back to works just days after giving birth in order to support the family. You had a totally awesome parent, but it can't of been easy.
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I've done it before, and I'll do it again. My second child is due in 2 weeks and I'm still working. I'll probably be back to work within one or two weeks of giving birth. Remember, slightly less than half the working mothers in this country get paid maternity leave. I'm a part of that group that has no choice but to work every day I possibly can. I work weekends, my husband mostly works weekdays, just to save the money on childcare.
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I was divorced when the youngest was 3. I was a government lawyer. She was a school administrator. We agreed on 50-50 down the line. One week was mine and one was hers. I cooked badly, sped to day care, went to school functions and knew all the friends. But on my week off I worked late hours, as did she on hers. There were no nannies or grandmothers. We did it ourselves. And the divorce just made the separate responsibilities clearer. The way for two working parents to best raise their children is to have two working parents raising the children.
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Get real. Most female House members live apart apart from their children during the week, parenting by phone, e-mail and faxes and relying on husbands, family or nannies to fill the gaps. It's a lifestyle dictated by election cycle.
The Washington Post
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The idea that our daughters can have an enlightenment that we never had because we were just barreling through, and no one (including us!) thought what we did was monumental, is inspirational!
How wonderful to have daughters that can benefit from whatever we learned and analyze with a clear eye in order to continue to move the ball forward.
More than ever, women need to lead us into the future as politicians and journalists!
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Your mom sounds like a wonderful role model. But, the story you wrote is in no way what working motherhood looks like for most women. Let me paint the more accurate story - racing to daycare each morning while leaky boobs make life miserable, hoping you managed to pump enough milk to do "what's best" for the baby while feeling guilty about everything, zooming off to work because nobody there cares you just had a baby and your insides are turned upside down, working all day long your very hardest so you can zoom out of there in time to get the kid(s) before the daycare closes and fines you. Then racing home to attempt to cook something halfway healthy while trying ton condense a day's worth of quality time into one or two hours, if you are lucky. Then rinse, repeat - and the cycle of guilt never goes away as your kids forever remind you of what you are missing in their daily lives - and you just hope when they are grown will reflect fondly, as you've done. Sorry - I don't find the Marissa Mayers, Cheryl Sandbergs, or anyone inspiring who is top dog, even at their own business - as they live by a different set of rules then the rest of us - and most women live by my set of exhausting rules
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Amen, Dana, amen.
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Dana, all you can do is be a good enough mother. Your life was my life and today I have a lovely, happy, educated, married, and accomplished young adult daughter. Please try to let your guilt go, it only serves to drain you of the emotional energy you need to be the woman and mother you aspire to be.
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Dana: I read your comment and I brought back memories from 10 years ago. I found the daycare years very challenging, but I stuck with it and now I have a more meaningful career than I did 10 years ago. Stay strong!
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Thank you, Phoebe Lett, for your inspiring piece. Your family is what America is all about. And here's to more women in elected positions. More power to Tammy Duckworth and all the supportive women in the Senate and even some of the male Senators who have signed on to this ground- breaking softening of the old boy network in the Senate's hallowed halls. I look forward to January 2019 when many more women will take the oath of office.
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