America Doesn’t Need So Called “Family-Friendly” Policies
“The lack of family-friendly policies in the United States — such as paid family leave and subsidized child care — most likely plays a role, too. Although policies have improved somewhat since the early 1990s, women’s labor force participation in countries that have more generous policies has continued to increase, unlike in the United States,” according to Claire Cain Miller.
Are paid family leave and subsidized child care family-friendly policies? They sure aren’t, in my opinion, because they simply make it easier for women to work away from their homes and leave their children in the care of others with the support of taxpayers funding them. It supports anti-family policies rather than building up families. Keeping children from their parents is destructive to children. Yes, it’s good for new mothers to be with their children for a time after giving birth, but they need to stay with these children as long as their children are under their roofs!
“As women do more paid work, men have not increased their child care and housekeeping tasks to the same extent — another surprise for young women who, research has shown, expected more egalitarian partnerships.”
“Another surprise for young women”??? The feminist movement has made us falsely believe that women and men are equal. Homemaking isn’t in most men’s DNA. God created women to be the keepers at home. He created our nature for this work. He didn’t create men for the details of homemaking. They were created to work hard and provide a living for their families. No, egalitarian partnerships are a myth. Every institution needs a boss and each person within the institution needs clearly defined roles. It is no difference in a marriage.
“Generations of girls have been told they can achieve anything they aspire to, including having both a career and children — and many women have done so. But at the same time, both work and parenting have become more demanding. The result is that women’s expectations seem to be outpacing the realities of public policy, workplace culture and family life.”
Yes, generations of girls have been lied to and they are paying a heavy price. Their children are paying the heaviest price. God didn’t create women to have careers and leave their homes all day and their children in the care of others. He created them to be wives and mothers. This is clearly seen by looking at our bodies.
No, we aren’t men and we don’t need to seek what they have – careers. We need to go back to the beautiful ancient paths that God has set for us and walk on them. They are the only path that godly woman should walk on, not the paths that the feminists have called women to take. Those paths only lead to destruction.
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
Jeremiah 6:16
17 thoughts on “America Doesn’t Need So Called “Family-Friendly” Policies”
Hi Lori can I ask you what is paid family leave?
Thank you in advance. ???
Hi Lori! Thank you for this post. What suggestions do you have to encourage women to work and earn money from home? We don’t have paid family leave or subsidized child care in our country, but many women work outside the home because their husbands do not earn enough. Think $10 daily minimum wage for a family. Short of young people delaying marriage and child rearing until they can save more, what can be done? Thank you.
It’s when companies are forced by the government to pay for their employees to take time off such as when a woman has a child.
Many women want to work out of the home, Mary. It’s their choice since it’s a lot of work to stay home all day and care for their children. If they are believers in Jesus Christ, they can trust the Lord to provide; for with Him ALL things are possible and seek Him for wisdom on how to make money from home if need be. Most women don’t bring much money home after taking taxes out and the cost for them to work and not being able to live frugally. Here is a great post written by a woman who lived on her husband’s income so she could be home full time with her children. http://lorialexander.blogspot.com/2014/04/50-ways-we-paid-off-her-house-with-one.html
I’m from Canada and here we get one year maternity leave where the government pays you half of what you were making every month. Based on each household income, we also get a certain amount of money per child until they are 18.
For me, it was during my year long maternity leave that I decided to become a stay at home mom. I just loved being home so much with my baby.
I’m thankful our government has these options for women, in my opinion to at least kinda give women the option to stay home until the baby is done breastfeeding.
But I do get how this can be just an incentive for moms to return to work thinking “oh I spent a year with my baby that’s enough”
I just can’t even imagine moms in the USA leaving 3 week
Old babies because they have to return to work. I can’t even stomach that!
What I don’t understand is the idea of women popping out kids they can’t afford to care for properly, or want, then crying victim to poverty or bad circumstances and asking for our charity, or more handouts! Now, more and more kids have no mothers present in their lives as they’re stuck in daycare 24/7 almost, or latch key kids in their school years! If you can’t afford to raise your own kid without working 24/7 and whining about not being able to afford childcare, then why didn’t you plan better instead of getting knocked up on a whim??? I feel awful for the kids, and hope they get all the love and care they deserve, even with some charity and handouts, but do I feel sorry for the parents, and absentee mothers? Not a chance!
God might have created women to raise kids, but not everyone in the US is Godly, or Christian. I guess we are stuck like paying taxes for schools even if our kids are not in school.
Dear Lady of Reason,
They don’t know and they don’t understand. We would be there ourselves if it weren’t for the grace of God. We must pray for them and share about Christ love and ways!
Paid family leave also gives fathers the chance to take time off work when a baby is born or a family member needs care. Currently in the U.S., companies are not required to pay for family leave. My husband wasn’t able to take more than a couple of days off work when our first two kids were born because we couldn’t afford the missed pay. Revision in maternity/paternity leave would benefit both mothers and fathers.
I’m from the UK and we also get a year of maternity leave. I then returned to work part time whilst my child is looked after by family. He also attends nursery for a few hours some days,mainly to socialise with other children. I have to work, we have done all the sums and just cannot live any other way. I am not sure what mortgage costs and food bills are like in the USA but in the UK the cost of living at the moment seems very high, our mortgage costs us less per month than renting but it’s a struggle to get on the property ladder and many get stuck renting. I am so, so glad I got that year off to be with my baby, I cannot even imagine having to leave a six week old in the care of someone else and then go and be productive all day at work. I don’t think it would have been any good for my mental health, which is a struggle for many women after they have a child.
I totally see your view point but I think offering a longer maternity leave and the chance to go back to work on a more flexible basis would benefit a lot of families. I know you think mothers should be the one to look after their children full time but my son benefits so much from spending time with family while I am working, he has a beautiful relationship with his grandparents and has benefited hugely from going to nursery. I would probably feel differently if I worked full time but I am with my son 100 % of the time four days a week and the three days I work I am still the one to get him up in the mornings and put him to bed at night, and he knows he is loved.
Perhaps if you had gone to college, rather than build an online presence dedicated to a campaign against educated women, some of your writing might actually be articulate. Intelligent women make intelligent families. More importantly, women are human beings in and of themselves with the right to live fulfilling lives that don’t necessary revolve around their husbands.
I have my teaching credential so I not only went to four years of college but one and a half years of graduate school. I teach what God’s Word has to say, Lea, since the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.
so true. we do need a social safety net for people who have things beyond their control, like if a husband leaves/abdicates responsibility. but encouraging women to work is not the answer. I worked for the first 3 years of first childs life. he stayed w/loving grandparents, but the bad influences in the form of other cousins etc was still there. he is currently struggling w/alcohol issues and coming along, but this is due to bad influences in daycare situation when he was younger and the media we allowed when he was a teen. keep getting out the message and ignore the naysayers. the truth is helping so many of us that you don’t even know.
Lori, I say a hearty amen! Thank you for teaching God’s Word and being obedient in teaching what the Bible says about our roles as women.
Wow! First of all I want to commend you for speaking your truth but please do not attempt to speak the truth of all women, for no one can walk in those shoes. It becomes too easy to judge others if we only use one lens through which we define motherhood or womanhood. What a challenge it is to be all that our little people need to survive this world. It takes a great deal of unconditional love to overcome all the lies we are told about who we are and “should be” be to suit the needs of others. Love and grace to you & yours!
Paid family leave has to be “paid for” by somebody. Who? Usually male workers. That means less money goes home for the wife to pay the bills.
Paid family leave is simply taking money away from one woman and giving it to a different woman.
If it’s “government funded” then that is paid for by taxes. Who pays taxes? Mostly married men. So their wives again get less money to pay the bills.
Most government funding goes to SINGLE mothers.
So married women are being taxed to provide benefits to single women.
That is the essence of modern government.
I love Austrias “old-fashioned” family-friendly policies, because they really are family-friendly. In general families receive a certain amount of money per child per month to help cover the expenses of raising the children. Also if only one of th parents is earning money that parent gets a certain bonus per child – again to help cover the costs. These policies are slowly becoming extict, as rent has gone up so drastically it is becoming harder to be able to pay it from the income of one person. Also parents are being pushed into signing their children up for daycare (which is “conveniently” free) starting at a very young age. Some one-year-old are dropped off at 6:00 a.m. and picked up at 6:00 p.m. I liked the focus of the old laws better. At least homeschooling hasn’t been outlawed yet.