Thanks to Sara, my blog is suddenly getting a lot of visitors from our neighbor to the north who care about issues of childcare. I think it's great that so many people there are talking about it, as it is an issue about which I care deeply. However, I don't see myself as any particular expert on the subject--particularly as it relates to Canadian politics and Tory bloggers.
What I know about childcare--and what I wish for my own country--relates almost entirely to my experience of having a baby in semi-socialist Europe and raising him there for a year. The luxury of having paid maternity leave and receiving monthly child benefits was almost unimaginable to me. I was so grateful not to have to make the same wrenching choices that my friends who were having babies stateside were. Exclusive breastfeeding? I could do it. Long walks with my baby? I could do it. Not worrying about whether my sleep-addled brain would cause me to crash the car on my commute? I could do it.
I totally agree with Sara that we seem to spend too much of our time in a media-driven, non-existent "Mommy War" conversation about whether stay-at-home moms or working moms are better mothers. I think it's a smokescreen to keep parents from agitating for better conditions and more support for moms AND dads. As one poster on Salon.com described it in a letter about their feature today on the Mommy Wars, it's like this endless, pointless conversation is just one other "hamster wheel" to put women on to keep them under control.
Anyway, that's a long way of saying that I support the efforts of my Canadian blogging colleagues to raise the issue of the intrinsic value of caregiving. I think women AND men should be able to make the choices they want to care for their children (or parents or other relatives) and not find themselves in the poorhouse. I don't think anyone can argue against that--except the corporate world.