Babies don't keep.

Archive of ‘Parenting Stay-at-Home’

“First Dude” Todd Palin: Involved Father (Pictures)

(Scroll down for pictures of Todd Palin with his Children)

When the folks in the mainstream media talk about Sarah Palin, they emphasize that she has FIVE children!! How could she ever do it!!! They make it seem like she is a single mother and all five of her children are only TWO YEARS OLD!

Well… Alert the media. Sarah is married to a very capable man who happens to have sacrificed his job to play a larger role in raising their children. I understand they have never hired a full-time babysitter.

The Palin family did just fine while Sarah worked as governor. It seems her children were with her when possible, and her husband worked as a full-time dad. It certainly seems like Todd and Sarah Palin know what they are doing.

And about those FIVE children… Their oldest son, Track, happens to be going to war in Iraq. I think he’s pretty grown up.

Their oldest daughter, Bristol, happens to be getting married. She seems to be in love and looking forward to getting on with her own life. Read more: http://parentingfreedom.com/2008/09/05/bristol-and-levi-parents-in-training/

Willow happens to be thirteen. She is a big girl who is likely a great help around the house.

Todd and Sarah do have two little ones. Piper is seven, the exact same age as my daughter, and Trig is the baby. Read more: http://parentingfreedom.com/2008/09/03/sarah-palin-mother-and-first-female-vice-president-pictures-children-parenting/

I guess the mainstream media believes that conservative women should stay at home. Have they noticed that both Barack Obama AND his wife work fulltime? Don’t they care about the Obama children?

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/09/05/a-palin-cone-of-silence/
(See second set of quotes)


Todd Palin with Baby Son Trig


Sarah Palin’s Husband with Baby


Todd Palin Caring for Baby Trig


Todd Palin Holding Baby


Looks Like Father is Happy and Baby is Content


I have seen sooo many pictures of John McCain talking to Piper


Todd Palin and Daughter Bristol


Todd Palin Holding Baby


Todd Palin holding Piper


Sarah Palin’s Husband Holding Daughter Piper


An older picture that has Todd holding Piper

For many more Sarah Palin Family Pictures, click here and scroll down.

http://parentingfreedom.com/category/politics-sarah-palin/

Pictures courtesy of Yahoo and Google.

Sarah Palin: Mother and First Female Vice President (Pictures, Children, Parenting)

(Scroll down for 40+ pictures of Sarah and Family)

My grandmother was conceived in 1920, the same year that national women’s suffrage finally came to America. My grandmother, living in New York, is now 87 years old, and at last, after all these years, a woman will be elected Vice President of the United States. Governor Sarah Palin is not just any woman. Governor Palin is a woman with Christian, conservative family values and principles. She brings hope and enthusiasm to this election with her strength, character, and courage.

Sarah Palin is obviously one very intelligent lady. She became mayor and then governor and cleaned up her state and even her own party while maintaining a very high approval rate.

She has respect for all life - born and unborn.

I love that Sarah embraces her role as a mother and does not hide her children or view them as inconveniences. I am very impressed with her belief in mother/child togetherness. She takes her children to work, breastfeeds, and wears her baby in a sling. It seems that Sarah’s husband plans to homeschool with distance education.

Strong, healthy women CAN have it all, but keep in mind, they are not necessarily DOING it all. Most women ARE working women whether in or outside the home. Some delegate the cooking, dishes, laundry, and cleaning to hired staff, and replace it with talking with people, paperwork, and giving speeches. Either way, a woman can still be a devoted wife and mother - as long as she stays connected to her children. It seems that Sarah Palin has the energy, strength, and courage to be a wonderful vice-president, while at the same time, she will continue to be a great mother to her children.

Gov. Mom
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/01/AR2008090102998.html?nav=rss_politics

“Palin has carefully portrayed herself throughout her career as someone committed to both family and profession — and tough enough to handle both. She made a show of dismissing the chef at the governor’s mansion saying she wanted to do her own cooking, and that the kids were old enough to make their own sandwiches. And no one can recall her ever having a full-time babysitter.

(I understand that before this time, she did have a nanny when her oldest children were little.)

‘You walk into her office and Piper is sitting there, the baby is in the crib — that’s just the way it is. This is how she lives her life. Someone who was in a meeting with her recently said she was discreetly nursing Trig,’ said Palin’s biographer Kaylene Johnson.”


Sarah and Piper in the Office


Baby Trig with Mommy and Daddy

“From interviews with those closest to Palin emerges a description of a hectic lifestyle, but one in which the hominess and rural community of Alaska have enabled her to have her kids around her while she works and have offered a deep bench of family and friends for child-care support. She has shown up to meetings and news conferences carrying Trig in a baby pouch.


Sarah Working with Baby in Sling


Happy Baby / Happy Mother


On the Job with Trig in a Baby Carrier


Sarah Babywearing

“She and her husband kept their family house in the small town of Wasilla, where her parents, three siblings and closest friends live. Most of the year, she is able to commute back and forth from Anchorage daily, except when the legislature is in session in Juneau. Todd Palin is currently on leave from his job as an oil field worker, making it possible for him to be a full-time dad, said two friends. Sarah Palin’s mother said in an interview Sunday that Palin’s two youngest girls, Willow and Piper, attended school in Juneau for the second semester last year when the legislature was in session to be near their mother. The baby was also with Palin. 


Sarah Holding Trig At Work


Sarah Palin Working with Baby Trig

 “Even in the story of Trig’s birth, Palin paints herself as feisty and fearless. She told the local media that she noticed her amniotic fluid was leaking right before she gave a speech in Texas last April. After her keynote address to the National Governors Association, and obtaining the consent of her doctor, Palin boarded an eight-hour flight to Anchorage. She never told the airline she was in labor. She and her husband drove 45 minutes to her hometown medical center; the baby was born seven hours later.”

I like the fact that she didn’t treat pregnancy as an illness. I think it was awesome that she gave a speech after her water broke. I thought I was pretty smart in shaving my legs, labouring at home for the first 24 hours of a 26-hour labour, and going for a walk around the hospital just before giving birth. But, obviously, I am no Sarah Palin.  :-)


Sarah Palin Giving a Speech During Her Pregnancy


Sarah Palin Expecting


Sarah, Pregnant with Trig

I also think it is awesome that Sarah Palin had another baby at 44 years of age.

Sarah Palin chose life for her son even though 90% of prenatally diagnosed babies with Down Syndrome are killed before birth in the United States.

“The McCain campaign said it could not confirm that Palin was still breastfeeding Trig, but the governor said as much in a interview with People magazine on Friday. “What I’ve had to do . . . is, in the middle of the night, put down the BlackBerrys and pick up the breast pump,” she worked into an answer to a question about whether she was a morning person.”

“Palin kept her pregnancy secret for seven months, stunning even her staff with the announcement. She pointedly said at the time she would not miss work. ‘I had Piper on a Monday, and I was back to work on a Tuesday. I even brought her to work with me,’ she said, referring to the birth of her daughter.”

Again, this demonstrates great strength. Sarah has wisely chosen the kind of work that enables her to have her children with her. There are so many photos of Sarah and her daughter on the job.


Working with Mom


Daughter Piper with her Mom (on the job)


Staying Close to Mom


Working with Mom Can Be a Lot of FUN!


Working with Middle Daughter Willow


Piper Having More Fun Working with Mother


Piper working with Mom


Sarah and Piper Palin


On the Job with Mom


Piper Helping Mom at Work


Piper Working with Mom Sarah


Piper and Sarah Palin


Sarah and Daughter Piper


In Mother’s Arms When Sarah is Speaking


Working Mom


Working without Neglecting Her Child


Sarah and Daughter Piper at Work


More Fun at Work


Family Working Together


Sarah Palin Taking Care of her Child

John McCain & Sarah Palin on Shattering the Glass Ceiling
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20222685,00.html

“Sarah Palin, in ruby red peep-toe platform heels that showed off a pink French-style pedicure, first ducked into a holding room to change the diaper of her just-up-from-a-nap 4 1/2-month-old son, Trig.”


Sarah Palin with Baby and Future President and First Lady

SARAH PALIN: “Morning person. Yup. We don’t sleep much. Too much to do. What I’ve had to do, though, is in the middle of the night, put down the BlackBerries and pick up the breast pump. Do a couple of things different and still get it all done.”


Sarah Palin with Baby and Blackberry

“As a new mom, how are you going to juggle all this?”

SARAH PALIN: “I am thankful to be married to a man who loves being a dad as much as I love being a mom, so he is my strength. And practically speaking, we have a great network of help with lots of grandparents and aunties and uncles all around us. We have a lot of help.”

“So will your husband be on leave now indefinitely to be Mr. Mom?”

SARAH PALIN: “I would say so, yes.”

Her husband is a capable full-time dad. As vice-president, she will also have a huge staff. And she will be able to continue having her children with her.


Todd Palin and Baby Son


Sarah Palin with husband Todd holding Baby Trig


On the Job with Sarah
Todd Palin holding Daughter Piper


On the Job with Sarah
Todd Palin holding Daughter Piper


Older Photo of Palin Family
Todd Palin Holding Piper

“Mr. Palin, you have this tiny baby with special needs. Do you worry that people may wonder if she’ll be giving short shrift to her family?”

TODD PALIN: “She’s heard that her whole life – the challenges of being a female and mother in the work force. I remember the first time she ran for mayor one of her fellow council members told her you can’t run because you’ve got three negatives: Track, Bristol and Willow. Those are the three kids we had at the time. So when you tell her that kind of stuff, she just gets fired up. We’re an Alaska family that adapts.”


Supportive Family
Sarah’s Oldest Daughter Bristol Holding Baby Brother Trig

The daughter who is pregnant is seventeen years old. My grandmother married at seventeen, and my mother married at sixteen, and I had my first date with my husband at fourteen. I think Sarah’s oldest daughter will love being married and having a baby. I think she will also love being the daughter of the first female vice-president. The young man Bristol plans to marry was homeschooled. Sarah said, “We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. . . . Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family.”


Sarah’s Middle Daughter Willow Holding Baby Brother Trig


Sarah’s Youngest Daughter Piper Holding Baby Brother Trig

CINDY MCCAIN: “I disagree with anyone who would say she can’t do both. Any woman who’s been in a situation where they are working and have children know that you give 300 percent; no one will be slighted in any of this, least of all her baby. She has a lot of energy, she’s a woman with great drive and great vision.”

“Mrs. McCain, do you even remember the last time he changed a diaper?”

CINDY MCCAIN: “No. And I’m not sure he does.”

JOHN MCCAIN: “Heh-heh. I remember. There’s some experiences you never forget.”


Todd and Sarah Palin
(Note Baby in Sarah’s Arms)
John and Cindy McCain


MCCAIN/PALIN 2008

For many more Sarah Palin Family Pictures, click here and scroll down.

http://parentingfreedom.com/category/politics-sarah-palin/

Pictures courtesy of Yahoo and Google.

“They Could Care Less.” Ya Think?

“I used to get up in the morning and go to an office. Now I get up and go to a plane. My kids still don’t care where I am. They just know both parents work in their household, and as long as we’re back for bedtime, they could care less.” Michelle Obama

A Good Babysitter is Hard to Find (if you don’t have a mirror)

A friend told me the other day that she would like to have more [than two] children, but it’s too hard to find good babysitters. I had no words. My eyes opened and eyebrows raised in surprise as I just nodded.

Also, I am saddened about a couple who hoped for years to have a baby and are finally expecting, and they have the plan already in place for the mother to head back to work. I suppose I should be thankful that in Canada, mothers have a year off for maternity leave, but why have a baby if you don’t want to take care of it past the age of one?

I can understand the “hard cases” where mothers simply have no choice, but to PLAN to leave your baby? I would think new mothers who plan to go back to work tend to purposely or even unconsciously avoid getting attached to their babies. They fear the natural bond because they plan to leave their child, and it would be too painful if the attachment were too strong.

“Leading authorities agree that for optimum development the child needs one person as a full-time caretaker for the first three years, a person who has time day and night to devote herself to the needs of the child.”  Herbert Ratner, M.D

The following idea might sell in my area:

The Onion: Many U.S. Parents Outsourcing Child Care Overseas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxj1RDbp_iE

Stressed Families

Stressed families
http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=553020

“Socially, we say to parents that time with a child is unproductive. We have permitted a tax policy that penalizes having kids and double penalizes spending time with them, and we don’t even have household-based income tax.”

“Careers, health and just the normal aggravation of children are all stresses of life. As a caring nation, we don’t have to add to those stresses with punitive social and tax policy against parents, which may contribute to pushing some to a breaking point.”