If you’ve been to a doctor’s office or pharmacy lately, you’ve seen the signs announcing that flu season is here, and urging you to get your flu shot now. Even if I do get the flu, I’ll count myself among the luckier ones, because my employer provides me with paid sick days. Not everyone is so lucky. The U.S. is one of only a few rich countries that doesn’t guarantee workers paid sick leave. Roughly 41 million workers in our country lack this basic protection to care for themselves or a sick family member. Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) took a step toward fixing this.

It wasn’t until I became a mom that I decided to go into teaching. For 7 years, I worked in manufacturing, but there was something about becoming a parent that compelled me to want to make a difference in children’s lives, even beyond my own family. And so I became a teaching assistant until I...

As a new parent there are so many rituals, new memories, and moments that unfold as the weeks and months go by. We watch our children form their first smile, utter their first sounds, cry their piercing cries. I was so nervous bringing my baby home. I felt like they were too fragile and that I was...