ReadySetMom

Take action! Parents for Paid Family Leave legislation

Do you think Oregon needs paid family leave benefits? We've talked about maternity leaves, and how unpaid leaves are such a struggle for most families. Here's an email from Andrea, about a group that working toward legislation guaranteeing paid family leave:

I am proud to announce the formation of a parent group with the purpose of designing, creating and promoting paid family leave legislation.  This group was started by Isabel Toledo, a Nurse Practitioner, here in Portland. We believe it is time for Oregonians to stand up for families. FMLA (the Federal Family Medical Leave Act) and OFLA (Oregon Family Leave Act) allow for up to 12 weeks off (if you work for an eligible company) to care for a new baby, but none paid. Unfortunately, low-income and even middle-class families often cannot afford to take leave without pay and thus, the promise of leave means nothing. We believe this is not in the best interest of families.

As you may or may not know, a paid family leave bill was proposed in the Oregon Senate in 2007 at which time it was narrowly defeated. This bill proposed 6 weeks of paid leave, up to $250/week. Our group believes this is inadequate, and we are working to encourage the drafting of a more progressive bill. While we do not (yet) aspire to replicate the leave of most other industrialized countries, our hope is to significantly improve leave in Oregon at the '09 legislative session.

Additionally, a federal bill has just been introduced to the Congress, that would ensure all families federal support for 12 weeks of paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child or to care for a sick family member. The bill is in need of additional congressional support.

We have created a website: www.parentsforpaidleave.org, which is a good source for updates on what's happening in the legislature and ways parents can get involved to support future efforts. We have meetings the second Saturday of each month, and will keep the website up-to-date about the times and locations of these. They are open to anyone who would like to work on making paid leave a reality for all Oregon families. We will also keep the site updated about any other ways parents can get involved.

What do you do with the holiday photo cards?

It's that time of the holiday season that I dread: Putting away the stuff.

The tree stuff. The yard and house stuff. The wrapping stuff.

We took the ornaments and lights off of the tree yesterday. (That is, I took them off and the kids pretended to help.) But, of course, you don't just take the stuff off. You have to put the stuff away, each and every ornament, in an organized way that will fit just so in the three bins that will fit just so in the garage. And every time you close one bin with a satisfying click, you find another Christmas item on the window sill or on the mantle or under the sofa, put there by little hands at play.

One of the last things I put away are the holiday cards. We keep them in a silver bowl in the family room and they get looked at regularly throughout the holidays. Easily, 95 percent of them are photo cards, which my 4-year-old loves going through, remembering family and friends from the Bay Area.

But here's the putting-away dilemma: What do you do with all of the photos of (mostly) adorable (mostly) smiling children? They seem too nice to just throw in the trash (can they even be recycled?) and they don't lend themselves to being turned into next year's gift tags. A cousin of mine actually puts them all into an album. I can't get motivated to put my own kids' baby pictures into albums, let alone pictures of other people's kids.

Anyone have a creative solution for putting away without throwing away?

Clearing out old toys

It's the end of the year, and with all the new stuff that came into our homes over the holidays, our natural inclination is to get rid of the old stuff and start out fresh in the new year. The thing is, it's really hard getting rid of toys because a lot of non-profits won't take them. However, before Christmas there are all sorts of organizations gathering gently used toys to give to underpriviledged children. I am kicking myself now for not going through the toys (particularly the stuffed animals) and unloading them before the new stuff arrived. Plus, I think the kids would be less likely to notice that the toys were gone since they are so enamored with the things that Santa brought.

So, what's your toy cleaning-out strategy? Do you give it to Goodwill? (I have a particular aversion to the big thrift stores.) Do you sell it on CraigsList? Pass it on to other children you know? Do you have a favorite children's charity that accepts toys and clothing? And what is your criteria for getting rid of toys -- broken, never played with, too babyish? I'm always worried that once I get rid of something the kids will be broken-hearted and yearn to have it back (of course, they never do). But that fear sometimes keeps me from getting rid of the stuff that really needs to go!

Bills, forms and papers... oh my!

I rarely look forward to filing old bills, tax forms or various important papers since I haven't a clue as to what I should be keeping, and for how long. Not surprisingly, my files resemble an exploding mess of papers, and trying to cram anything else in -- each time I do file -- is next to impossible.

I recently read that you only need to keep tax records for seven years. And that you can discard expired insurance papers. So there's two files I can actually whittle down.

But that leaves a lot of unanswered questions: bank statements, copies of paid bills, investment statements, medical receipts. Any idea how long to keep them? Or should I even be keeping them at all? Surely there are some organizational gurus out there who have some ideas on this filing conundrum. Please share your wisdom with me. My paper shredder is standing by...