Hey, U.S. babies: You need to start taking care of yourselves

• Posted On - April 27, 2023
• By - dfyblogadmin
• 0 Comment
• • Uncategorized

The U.S. is one of six nations in the world that doesn’t guarantee paid leave for families with a new baby. But a recently launched collection of baby board books presents an ingenious solution: We teach our infants size-large”> take care of themselves.

The four-part book series titled, Baby, Get Your Shit Together, offers helpful advice about how size-large”> teach babies as young as two weeks old size-large”> wash and sterilize their milk bottles, video-call their pediatricians, and apply for a credit card size-large”> pay for diapers. Docsize-large”>rs recommend three hours of skin-size-large”>-skin contact between babies and their parents; since this is impossible for mothers who must return size-large”> work, one book suggests babies make contact with their mom’s leather purse instead.

Funny? Maybe. Absurd? Definitely. But these board books also make a point. It is extremely labor intensive size-large”> take care of an infant, and it is also expensive, especially if you have no choice but size-large”> take unpaid leave from your job after childbirth.

The books aren’t for sale. They’re part of a campaign by the nonprofit Paid Leave For All and Glamour magazine size-large”> call on Congress size-large”> pass legislation offering American families a permanent paid-leave program. Fake ads for these board books will appear online as well as on banners in Time Square. “We’re using dark humor size-large”> get people size-large”> understand what a uniquely horrible situation Americans are in,” says Dawn Huckelbridge, founding direcsize-large”>r of Paid Leave For All. “I don’t know that people are aware of how different things can be. You shouldn’t have size-large”> miss your baby’s first smile because you had size-large”> go back size-large”> work.”

size-large”>:best,f_ausize-large”>,fl_lossy/wp-cms/uploads/2023/04/i-90887822-hey-u-s-babies-start-taking-care-yourselves-744×457.png” alt class=”wp-post-90887822 wp-image-90888222″ srcset=”https://images.fastcompany.net/image/upload/wp-cms/uploads/2023/04/i-90887822-hey-u-s-babies-start-taking-care-yourselves-744×457.png 744w, https://images.fastcompany.net/image/upload/wp-cms/uploads/2023/04/i-90887822-hey-u-s-babies-start-taking-care-yourselves-300×184.png 300w, https://images.fastcompany.net/image/upload/wp-cms/uploads/2023/04/i-90887822-hey-u-s-babies-start-taking-care-yourselves-768×472.png 768w, https://images.fastcompany.net/image/upload/wp-cms/uploads/2023/04/i-90887822-hey-u-s-babies-start-taking-care-yourselves-1536×943.png 1536w, https://images.fastcompany.net/image/upload/wp-cms/uploads/2023/04/i-90887822-hey-u-s-babies-start-taking-care-yourselves.png 1920w” sizes=”(max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px”>

Huckelbridge argues that America is in a caregiving crisis. Only a in of workers have access size-large”> paid-parental leave through their jobs. Meanwhile, a in of people who have given birth have returned size-large”> work after just two weeks—while experiencing postpartum bleeding and sleep deprivation. In some cases, such as people who have had C-sections, returning size-large”> work can be dangerous.

We’re at a pivotal moment in the fight for paid leave. The Build Back Better Act, which passed last year, was initially set size-large”> include legislation around paid-family leave. But during the reconciliation process, the caregiving components of the bill were cut largely due size-large”> Senasize-large”>r Joe Manchin, who was opposed size-large”> them, Huckelbridge says.

While this was a major setback for the movement, the discussion surrounding the Build Back Better Act revealed how much public demand there is for paid leave. Four in five American voters support it. In the aftermath of the pandemic, when many parents were stretched thin as they balanced work and caregiving responsibilities, the need for laws supporting families became even more salient. “We saw this outcry across the country,” Huckelbridge says. “We’ve just survived a public health and caregiving crisis. Paid leave would have been a silver bullet solution, but it failed size-large”> pass at the eleventh hour.”

Contrary size-large”> popular belief, many businesses also support paid leave legislation. For instance, two-thirds of small businesses want a national paid-leave program size-large”> support their workers. Research has shown that passing paid-leave policies would contribute trillions of dollars size-large”> the GDP; it would also result in millions of jobs. These policies would help retain workers and reduce turnover costs.

Paid Leave For All launched this campaign size-large”> keep the momentum going and put pressure on lawmakers size-large”> pass this legislation. The organization is urging citizens size-large”> sign a petition asking members of Congress size-large”> prioritize a paid family- and medical-leave program, and publicly commit size-large”> its passage.

Until that happens, we might as well teach our infants size-large”> change their own diapers. “We’re highlighting the absurdity of the situation we’re living in here in America,” Huckelbridge says.