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Child care used to be a family matter, taken up household by household, depending on a variety of circumstances. But times have changed and child care now moves appropriately to the public policy realm. The experts at the Center for American Progress look at three available child care options – a stay at home parent, privately paid for, or subsidized with public funds, in The Importance of Pre-School and Child Care for Working Mothers.   Below is an excerpt from their brief, focusing on the consequences of having one parent provide the needed child care.

We all know that childhood obesity numbers are staggering. But just how staggering are they?
One out of every three kids in the U.S are now classified as overweight or obese!  And one of the most astonishing contributors is the food served in many school cafeterias.

What does it take to reform school meals so that they are more nutritious and tasty for our kids, and also more sustainable for our communities? 

Ever felt like a wild thing? Last month, I found myself “roaring my terrible roar and gnashing my terrible teeth and rolling my terrible eyes and showing my terrible claws,” because the Senate failed to pass the Manchin-Toomey Amendment, which would have expanded background checks for gun purchases and is a measure that 90% of the public supports.

Lawmakers take heed!

MomsRising offers a special opportunity to write about what prosperity and good fortune means for my family. My sister, Anabel Mariko (“Ana”) and I, Isabel Yuriko (“Isa”), were born in California to a German father and Japanese mother back in 1972. My mother always said, “Don’t forget where you come from,” so we grew up speaking Japanese in the home, eating Japanese food, and traveling to Japan regularly. With our Asian identity deeply engrained in who we are, we can appreciate how our fate has been blessed with good fortune and prosperity.

The organization of which I am the Executive Director, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, released this statement following the immigration reform bill that passed the Senate Judiciary Committee. While we commend the Senate Committee for doing so, we still have deep concerns that both health care access and LGBTQ families are not included in the bill. –Jessica

Washington, D.C.—The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH) commends the Senate Judiciary Committee for its passage of the Senate bill for immigration reform, the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act” (S. 744). The group expressed concern, however, that the bill moves forward without two major civil and human rights considerations for aspiring citizens: access to affordable health care and equal rights for binational gay and lesbian couples.

This Father’s Day, we’re pulling back the curtains to reveal a side of father’s work that is rarely shown. We’re highlighting fathers who have or wanted to take time off from work to help their family establish a strong foundation, including a solid start with breastfeeding.

After the birth of our first child, those days were colored with our excitement, naivete, and grueling sleep-deprivation – the hazing of new parents.

I felt like a zombie after weeks of waking to nurse and burp the baby every 2-3 hours. I was commended all around for breastfeeding our son, but

(c) Toshimasa Ishibashi

the truth is that it took support. I would barely have had the time to prepare a meal consisting of more than toast or take a sip of water without a supportive partner. As breastfeeding advocates, we celebrate that breastmilk is virtually free, but what about the economic costs to families if mom needs to be home without paid leave to get it going?