Parenting Bloggers, Please Join Our Blog Carnival!
Tuesday July 7, 2009
If you blog about parenting -- or know somebody who does -- please consider joining the All About Parenting Blog Carnival for August. Our host is Jennifer Wolf, the About.com Guide to Single Parents, and the theme is "Cheap Fun".
In a blog carnival, a number of different bloggers give their own take on a specific topic. If you're not a blogger, please check back here on Monday, Aug. 3, when Jennifer will put together all the best submissions to help you finish out the summer with some good old-fashioned, cheap fun!
In the meantime, feel free to read past blog carnivals about topics such as saving money, friendship, mid-summer madness and do-it-yourself summer camp.
More:
Memo to the Obamas on a Family-Friendly White House
Monday July 6, 2009
Barack and Michelle Obama have said work-life balance is a priority for their administration. But a New York Times article this weekend exposed the reality of life for top White House staffers who are also working parents: missed bedtimes, delayed school visits and strained marriages.
I'm sympathetic to the difficulty the White House or any employer faces in providing flexible work hours to senior managers who have high-powered, demanding careers. And the Obama administration is reportedly taking many admirable steps for its workforce, such as inviting children to the White House and allowing flexible schedules and telecommuting.
But when you're leading the country, it's important to lead by example -- to practice what you preach. The Obama administration could become a model of flexibility in a 24-7 world, by taking these steps:
- Allow job sharing. This innovation has the greatest potential for filling high-intensity jobs -- one half of the job-share team can always be on call without burning out workers.
- Let work teams sort out their own schedules. Research shows this is the most effective way to ensure responsibilities are covered while empowering employees -- productivity and job satisfaction will both increase.
- Enforce down time. One of the biggest problems in the upper ranks of the U.S. workforce is the inability to take a true vacation from work. This impairs workers' health, limits innovation and keeps employers' benches very thin.
- Set healthy boundaries between work and home. It's great that senior staff can take time to chaperone their kids' field trips, but contacting them should be off limits unless it's a true emergency. In this world of Blackberries and iPhones, it's all too easy to call someone for a "quick question" and frivolously interrupt their needed family time.
- Encourage reduced-hour work weeks. The job of running the country is a big one. The American people deserve to have important decisions made by government officials who are rested and in harmony with their happy homes -- not stressed-out staffers who are working 60 and 70 hour work weeks.
I'm not saying it would be easy to follow these suggestions. But employers in so many arenas -- from corporate America to scientific research facilities and law firms -- claim to be incapable of flexibility because of the unique demands of their field. The White House could prove them wrong by introducing true work-life balance in the country's top jobs, and thereby challenge every workplace to follow suit.
Photo credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
More:
Why Did Sarah Palin Quit?
Saturday July 4, 2009
Sarah Palin shocked the world yesterday when she announced plans to step down as Alaska governor by the end of the month. Reportedly, even her brother and fellow Alaska Republicans were caught by surprise. This unexpected news comes on the heels of a blistering article in Vanity Fair that cited anonymous Republican aides questioning her mental state.
I'm not sure what to make of the news, but I'm confident of one thing: we haven't seen the last of Sarah Palin, one of the most polarizing and prominent working moms around. Whether she's quitting to further her reputation as a maverick or to leave the media spotlight in advance of a possible scandal, I'm betting she'll take center stage again before long.
What do you think?
SOTW: The White House Project
Friday July 3, 2009
For all the strides women have made toward equality, the percentage of women in Congress and chief executive positions of companies is pathetically low -- in the teens. One group trying to increase the number of women leaders is the White House Project, the About Working Moms Site of the Week.
As the name might suggest, the White House Project works -- on a nonpartisan basis -- to help women running for political office, with a goal of eventually having a female U.S. president. While women win elections just as often as men, we are far less likely to volunteer to run for office -- we tend to wait to be asked. The nonprofit also pushes for women to climb the ladder in corporate America and to appear more often as expert sources in the news media.
You can follow the work of the White House Project on their blog and there are many opportunities to get involved on the Web site. As a journalist, I'm glad to have people tracking the (slow) progress of women in a variety of arenas. After all, if you don't measure something, you'll never be able to change it.
More:
