White House Council on Women and Girls

There are a lot of issues right now for working parents. This is especially true for parents of young childern that are not school aged.

Day Care:
Day Care costs as much, monthly, as a cheap apartment. The least expensive I've found was a place that charged 160 a week That is over 400 a month. At this juncture any job that I get /must/ take into account that monthly cost. A job here that pays 6-9 dollars an hour won't cut it. I won't be working to pay bills, I'd be working solely to pay Day Care for no good reason. This has got to change.

I am like a number of other parents in that I don't have the family support network to just drop my kids off with someone in my family.

Also I do not have the patience or the mentality to watch other people's kids for them in turn. In the state I live in I wouldn't make enough doing it to make a difference that way either. Not unless I incorporated and got someone to help me run my own Day Care.

Working Part Time:
In the case that I can't get a good rate on Day Care, and still have to watch my kids from home, even were I to get a Part Time job that would put me psycologicaly in a dangerous place. I'd be "working" from the moment I got up to take care of the kids, til the moment I swapped places with their father, through until I got off of work and came home. Taking care of children doesn't stop on the weekends either. There is no break when it comes to child care.

Freelance Work with small children:
I don't know if anyone else does this but I find it impossible to do freelance work while at home with my young son. I hate the idea of letting the TV babysit for me, even with all the educational shows that are on TV or DVD. He wouldn't be getting the /interaction/ he needs for socialization. There is a level of guilt that sits over my heart to think I have to growl at my young son in order to get work done. What's that teach him? How does that make him feel when he /needs/ comfort for some reason or another and because of an important deadline I am unable to give it to him when he needs it.

Child Care at job places:
Some businesses would benefit greatly from hosting a Day Care at their office location. For a much reduced fee, they could offer it as a bonus to family members (not just moms) who have small children. This may not be optional for those who commute long and dangerous distances by car or train, or other forms of public transportation. But for those who live closer to work (which helps with gas, tolls, and car repairs cost reduction) it would be a great benefit.

If the company set up an agreement with a near by Day Care, the Day Care aspect wouldn't loose money. They could retain their "open to the public" aspect while offering a discount to the employees of the partnered business. (I've seen ONE place do this.)

My main concern is having flexibility at work including flex hours and being
able to work from home if necessary or on a permanent basis, f.e. once a
week.

Well, I had to retire early to care for my disabled husband. While I was working; there was the equal pay problem for years, and I remember a time when I did not get a raise for three years...but our Manager of our department not only got raises, perks etcl but he also got a $50,000 bonus....that is not fare...when the people under him were doing their jobs but not rewarded. This goes on all over and has for the last 20 years...the money does not trickle down any longer...; also it is hard if you have to be at home because like us, all we have is our social security, no savings, no 401K because it was never a big amount...maybe at one time was 40,000. but little by little medical bills etc ate that up. Would be nice to form a council for women who have to stay at home but need to work to be able to find some part time work from home that is legitimate....even working for government.

It's fabulously great that the Obama Team is seriously looking at this issue that's hurting American society as we're no longer taking well-enough care of those who are most dependent in our communities - the elders and the youth. Since companies (employers) only pay lip service vis-a-vis their sleek employee benefits brochures but never really at the core serve up the needed benefits to their workers, the government needs to step in and set regulations to foster work/life balance that's critically needed in this country as I've personally experienced where employers shamelessly take advantage of very talented, hard-working employees (esp. women like me) without equal pay or added benefits. It's impossible to juggle being a mommy, elder care giver to an aging parent, and a supportive wife. Simply impossible in our culture in this country today unless you have gazillions of money to hire helping hands which still aren't the same quality as if you could do it yourself which means at the end single-income household where the man works and woman stays home to handle all of the above. Kudos to the Obama Team and all the best wishes for such program to become active so that very talented people can take advantage of nurturing their professions while still trying their best to be the 'all of the above'.