As we move into the new millennium more and more employers are allowing, some are even encouraging, their employees to bring their newborn babies to work with them. This is probably one of the greatest changes in child care norms that this country has seen in the past 30 years. Once upon a time, when a woman had a baby she almost always quit her job to raise her child, depending on her husband to support her and her child. Then along came the idea of maternity leave. This is when a woman takes a certain amount of time off to be with newborn. Once this time period was up, the woman still had a job to go back to. This meant that women no longer had to rely on their husbands for support. Unfortunately it also meant that more and more children were being raised by perfect strangers. So along came another idea that has changed the way the working world views working mothers. In many offices around the country, women, and some men, are now allowed to bring their newborns to the office with them. This enables women to cut short their maternity leave, thus saving their employers money, and letting them raise their own child instead of handing that responsibility off to strangers. The idea of letting women bring their baby to work is a radically new one. Its existence shows how far people are willing to go to have it all. Because women can now work and raise their child at the same time, they are better able to perform the intricate balancing act of mother and worker without a husband. It also shows how far along we, as a country, have come in our thoughts on women and child care. Many women who are now bringing their children to work with them had mothers that quit working to raise their children. In one generation our country has gone from mothers being almost totally dependent on their husbands for support, to being able to do it all themselves. The change in policy that allows women and men to bring their newborn children ...
