I'm not sure I understand about "choice" when it comes to poor women and middle class women.

Even though middle class women may make more money, we still don't make enough to really make the CHOICE either - we HAVE to work. And while we can scrounge up more to pay for daycare, again quality daycare for my 2 daughters cost me (and I'm going to use real numbers so you guys really understand) $1900 a month. My mortgage, property tax and homeowners insurance per month (I paid them all at once into an impound account) was $1740.

Plus whatever other bills we had (our credit card bills were non-existent or manageable, as were our utility bills. Probably the only problem was the car, but that's ONE thing and only makes so much of a dent).

So, yes sacrifices can be made to make it by, but it was tight. Not as tight as the poor, yes, but still tight.

Plus, the poor qualify for aid from the government. When I was fired during my 6 month of pregnancy (and we had just purchased our home), I obviously wasn't going to get hired anywhere with my belly out a mile. I went on disability (I was high risk pregnancy anyway) and my husband worked and we got a few bucks here and there from our parents (they were otherwise not in a position to help more than that).

BUT we didn't qualify for WIC at all or any other form of government assistance when my daughter was born. I did breast feed for 6 weeks, but that didn't work out, and so I was forced to buy formula (which I couldn't get assistance for).

Also, many poor women find that staying home is more economically feasible because the money they make working only goes straight to paying daycare, which makes no sense. I have at least one friend that realized that and she stayed home. Luckily her husband got a huge promotin and a raise to make up the difference. They are also middle class.

So, while I certainly, absolutely, sympathize with the plight of the poor (and I'm not being sarcastic), the way our system works now is they get help under the qualifications now in place (of course, many may not ask for it, but that's their business). The Middle Class does not. That's why it's a squeeze and why we can struggle just as much as, if not more than the poor (especially the poor who ask for and receive government assistance, which I'm not necessarily begrudging them either.).

Finally, work/life balance helps the poor as well in the sense that they won't always have to worry about getting fired when their kids are sick; they can make flex-time of some sort in whatever way it works for employer and employee (not coming in at 6 to open the store because your child care doesn't start until later and maybe they can work later because they have child care in the afternoon).

Work/life balance works for EVERYBODY, man, woman, parents, non-parents, single, married. It's healthy for everyone to know that they won't get fired because they have a life outside of work. Because no matter how hard you try to keep your personal life out of your work life, it is unrealistic that that can be maintained 100%, 365 days out of the year.

LIFE HAPPENS. That's what employers have to realize. And fellow employees have to realize that as well. Not everyone has a set up like YOU do. Some people have children, you don't. Get over it. As long as the employees are pulling their weight, who cares. If they are not, then management needs to learn to deal with them on an individual basis. This way, everybody knows what the rules are and they are consistently enforced, and perhaps employees should have a way to make sure they are consistently enforced.

Anyway, I'm not saying I have all the answers, but we have to stop being so negative about every suggestion that comes along.

Are we AmeriCANS or AmeriCANTS?

Cheers.