Modern Life, Parenting

The small victories of a working mother — flash poetry

“There’s a clean shirt in your backpack!”

<Door slams! Bam!>

First

to sign up for parent-teacher meetings.

Small victory.

Showed up on time —

early pick up, after all.

Small victory.

Pushed the migraine aside

(til tomorrow)

in order to be present

today

for preschool Chanukah party, songs, dance, and black light.

Huge victory.

Grater?!? Where’s the grater?

Found it.

And it’s clean.

Ready to make latkes. Here you go.

Take it. Take the potato, too. Wait don’t forget it’s late already past over there under the couch no upstairs in your room under the laundry basket i don’t know maybe okay fine call me at work later and let me know you’re home so I don’t worry I’m always worried what did you eat today tomorrow I promise tomorrow i know I’m sorry on Monday.

I’ll make it to the party on time.

Clean shirt in his backpack. Clean shirt. He’s got a clean shirt.

Education, Environment, Family, Food, Letting Go

If i was a lawmaker, but then again no…

Today’s Daily Prompt:

You have the power to enact a single law. What would it be?

Wait for it.

Wait for it.

Wait for it.

I would make a law that allowed me to make three more laws.

Ha!

Don’t ever try to limit me to just one anything!

I will beat you

at your own game

every time.

But, in all seriousness, as much as I love laws — and I do, I’m one of those irritating rule followers — I have a hard time coming up with the laws I would enact first if given the opportunity.

I would certainly enact one law that would benefit mothers.

And enact another that would benefit the Earth.

Somehow both of the above laws would trickle down to benefiting children.

Not just today’s children, but tomorrow’s.

Because I think the Earth, mothers, and children are often the ones who suffer with a lack of laws in their favor.

I would enact a law, I think, that would allow one parent to choose to be at home to care for his or her children, if he or she chooses, for at least two years full-time, and then supplementary after that until the children leave home.

My new “Family Leave Law” would not emphasize the LEAVE, but the STAY.

It would make a case for staying.

So staying is something a parent could choose to do, as opposed to making a major financial sacrifice when choosing to leave a full-time job in order to care for children, which is the situation for most people.

My law would reward and support parents for choosing to take on the job of caring for, educating and nurturing their children before and after school, for which we now pay others to do in a daycare system or through paid childcare.

My law would use taxpayer’s money to offer the parent caring for the child financial benefits and significant tax breaks for the time spent caring for the child.

In many countries (not the U.S.) laws like this already exist in some form.  The existing law is not as supportive as my proposed law, per say, but it’s better than what exists right now in America under the Family  and Medical Leave Act which basically protects no one and supports nothing, but the employer.

Really.

It’s a joke.

If you have ever been pregnant, you know what I mean.

Unless you’re a teacher, a union member, or work for the state government — those guys, from what I hear, have it pretty good.

Of course, there are cases to be made for not doing this.

Israel is one such case.

People here have lots of babies.

For a long time.

I’m talking 6, 7, 10 children.

My new law could potentially create a financial hardship for the government.

Which then may lead to the government putting a cap on how many children they will subsidize.

Which then will lead to anti-government people getting all up in arms about government regulating what we can and cannot do; how many kids we can or cannot have.

Which would lead to a media frenzy.

Which would lead to an outcry. And then a backlash. And then, maybe a reversal of my law.

Which makes me really glad, for once, I’m not the one making laws.

It’s really not as easy as it appears, is it?

What law would you enact?

Family, Parenting

The woman she used to be

I’m a woman so I know

what she wants you to remember is

the woman she used to be

the prankster the flirt the gymnast

she wants you

when you look at her

to see the girl in the rain

in braids

invincible

Tho she is mother

she is woman, she is girl

And just before she heard the baby cry she was imagining how she would do her hair for prom

up or down

She is thin and underdeveloped underneath that oversized formula stained tshirt

She is agile and eager behind that tired, uninterested frown

She closes her eyes, smells the bouquet you handed her and remembers

the wedding

She looks up and sees the underside of her mother’s chin

her mother’s grin

kissing her, thanking her for the macrame owl that Troop 422 made for all their mothers

In the mirror she is mother

but in her mind’s eye she is woman

she is a girl

they blend together and

she wants you to remember

like she remembers

the her behind Mother