Some of us who blog here at MomsRising talk over email about whether and how to engage the ongoing "mommy" debates that erupt from time to time. These are always mommy warish in nature, and you know that we forward-thinking, action-oriented, nice moms prefer to say, spread the word on the amazing possibilities for paid family leave in Washington state (see Joan's blog entry two below) than go head to head with people who prefer to stay within the culture of judgment and single-mindedness. My dream is that five years from now, they'll look up from their computer screens to learn that the US has a national policy on paid family leave. And that's just a start.

I've been a bit concerned that one of the latest contestants in the bout to win the unwinnable and harmful mommy wars is going after the progressive parenting types--MomsRising bloggers among them, and some of our favorite progressive dad blogs, like daddy dialectic and Rebel Dad (and track down to March 26, 2007 to hear what Rebel Mom has to say). Personally, I'd prefer that people focus on what really needs to be done, rather than stay stuck in the unfortunately career-building drama of attacking visionary, political parents. To these progressive parenting bloggers tangled in the latest splaying of barbs, I say: keep your voices loud and proud, we need you, we appreciate your willingness to be public, we are your supporters and fans.

To keep positive and to feel recognized, head over to Tracy Thompson's blog Maternally Challenged where she takes issues with the latest critique of our feminine mistakes (natch, our desire to have jobs, economic security, and family lives too) and reminds us that in real life people zig zag through life, we go through stages, we deal with inflexible workplaces and as we age, bias against that, too. Thompson so eloquently writes about motherhood and depression in her book Ghost in the House. She reminds us to ignore most of what passes as public debate on motherhood as the sad fact of a media madness that builds on mothers' anxieties and rewards extreme positions. Ignore it, head over to Maternally Challenged and other blogs like The Imponderabilia of Everyday Life where Sandy guides you through these debates in a path that ends with Judy Stadtman Tucker of