Legally, employers with more than 50 staff have to give unpaid leave for up to 12 weeks as "maternity leave." It's the unpaid part that's the pisser. Many, many workplaces have no paid maternity leave at all, or require you use short-term disability insurance to cover it. As recently as, I believe, 1978, you could legally be fired for getting pregnant, even if you worked in an office job where your "condition" in no way interfered with your ability to work.

In Georgia there is near-universal preK, thanks to state funding. In public schools it runs 7:45-2:30 and aftercare is $6 a day. (Pause to celebrate my last child's eligibility for this come next fall!) They also fund day care centers to have special preK classes that are free. In many ways GA is not progressive, but they have some interesting public education initiatives. (In-state public college/university tuition is free if you keep a B or better average, as another example.)

Hivemind help brought on by the discussions of the differences between male and female physiques and high heels. (Seriously, only Buffistas.)

I noticed yesterday that Abby's walk seems to be really getting awkward. Her feet go naturally outward at an angle (duck-footed) but then she pronates slightly when she walks. It's something she gets from Lewis since he walks exactly the same way. It was especially noticeable yesterday since she was breaking in a new pair of sneaker/flat with a slight wedge. I'm wondering if this is something I need to ask her doctor about, or if I just need to make her more conscious of trying to point her feet forward when she walks.

I can just imagine the trauma when she tries to learn how to walk in heels.

Thoughts? Am I just being a lunatic?

Brooklyn Montessori is wicked expensive.

Didn't they use that in an episode of House (although I think they changed it to gymnastics)?

They used that syndrome on an episode of House, but the girl who had it was a model, not an athlete.

And of course, there was the famous unaired episode of Freaks and Geeks with the intersexed girl.

Barb- I have the opposite problem (my feet go in, not out). I was taught to walk with my feet forward. As I have aged, however, this seems to have caused a lot of hip problems, and I have a really hard time keeping my right foot straight and not turned in.

So I would talk to the doctor, although the doctor is the one who just said to teach me to walk normally.

I noticed yesterday that Abby's walk seems to be really getting awkward. Her feet go naturally outward at an angle (duck-footed) but then she pronates slightly when she walks. It's something she gets from Lewis since he walks exactly the same way. It was especially noticeable yesterday since she was breaking in a new pair of sneaker/flat with a slight wedge. I'm wondering if this is something I need to ask her doctor about, or if I just need to make her more conscious of trying to point her feet forward when she walks.

I'd say talk to her doctor. Orthotics or something might help. Just trying to point her feet forward without addressing whatever physical thing is making them point out might do more damage than good.

Her feet go naturally outward at an angle (duck-footed) but then she pronates slightly when she walks.

Overpronates (rolls in) or underpronates (rolls out)? I'm kind of duck-footed, and I underpronate -- if you look at the soles of my shoes, the back outer corner is worn down more than the rest.

(And even if you do get in, most UPK programs are only half-day, so basically useless for working parents.)

My experience is that it makes full-day care cheaper, but of course I've only worked at places that do a lot of subsidized care anyway.

FWIW, I had prescription orthotics as a kid and all they did was make my arches hurt and cost a lot of money. If Abby's gait isn't causing her any pain, I wouldn't worry about it.