Comments on: Obama: Parenting is a public service

By: Margaret

Margaret — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:47:17 +0000

And I am so excited to see a grandma who takes her role seriously as well. She once said, If anyone is going to take care of the girls it will be me. I say “Amen.”

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:02:09 +0000

I absolutely love “Idiocracy”. Everyone should see it, IMHO, as sort of a “Scared Straight” program for adults… if we don’t pay attention to what our family is ingesting (in every way, not just food), we shouldn’t be surprised when our society devolves to what we see in this film. In fact, we are already there in many ways.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:38:49 +0000

I work in DC but live closer to Baltimore. Right near my commuter train is a huge sign that says “Take time to be a Dad today” with a photo of an African-American dad and child. It drives my husband crazy because he’s a work from home dad and is with our daughter all day. We agree that we are parents 24 hours a day with all the parts that come with it.

But the image is a stab at the dads that aren’t as involved as they should be. My husband is offended by the fact that there’s an assumption that dads aren’t good parents. There aren’t any “be a Mom today” billboards around. I think it also bothers us that people thought parenting was an option. Once you have a child, you are committed to raising and educating that child. I guess Obama felt that he needed to remind people of that too. How did we get so off track that we need a reminder to BE parents?

By: RobMonroe

RobMonroe — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:14:52 +0000

I did catch his (many) Call(s) to Action. I live just outside of DC, so we’ve been hearing even more than folks outside the region over the last week. He put his money where his mouth is over the weekend by showing up to do volunteer work at several sites.

Going further – he has indicated that he would like an addition to the current laws about wages/time off that parents of school-aged children be given at least 24 hours per year of time off explicitly to attend school functions, whether they are sporting or parent teacher conference or whatever gets the parent involved. I’m luckly in that I work in a place that gives me that time when I need it already, but I can see where it will have value for others.