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Article: Expand parental leave, not day care.(Commentary)(The well-being of our children is taking a back seat to the workplace)
- Article from:
- The Register Guard (Eugene, OR)
- Article date:
- August 6, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 The Register Guard. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Cynthia Whitfield For The Register-Guard
In our devotion to the values of the marketplace, we've forgotten something: The needs of children are frequently incompatible with the demands of the workplace.
We pay lip service to the idea that kids are important, but our actions don't match our words. Day care workers are poorly paid, at-home parents struggle because of a lack of support, and teachers complain they are expected to function as parents.
Americans have the dubious distinction of working more hours outside the home than people in any other industrialized nation. Although the Fair Labor Standards Act implemented the 40-hour week ...