>Being middle class IS a luxury if you are the working poor. > > Very true! This is where I believe the government needs to step in. Having been on assistance on and off for awhile, this is where the change needs to be. In the past moms could stay home with their children for three years I think it was, after they were born and still receive aid. Thanks to works to welfare stuff, those moms must go to work when the baby is 3 months and the government pays for the child care. For me, I received $617 in cash plus food and medical. (when i was a single mom) The cost for my kids in daycare full-time would be $9/hour. (at the time when they were three months and Neil was 3) Do the addition. The government would pay more to send me to work than let me stay home. I don't get it. The government pays $5/ hour or less for people to care for our children while the working poor make minumum wage. i have an idea! Let's pay moms the $5/hour to stay home with their children. I believe we would have a society much better off! I was fortunate my babies were on monitors and I was excluded from their plan. When it came time for their program I took the opportunity to move like they had offered. So here I am in Wisconsin and not receiving assistance anymore. We don't qualify anymore but we are definitely still the working poor. Not sure how we are going to do it but I feel strongly enough about working from home that we will find a way. My mom in Illinois said she heard about some program there that was trying to be passed to pay moms to stay home. An idea? I think that is where real change can begin. Don't know if it will ever happen. All the push to reduce federal programs, including cash and other social support and you just have to wonder where TRUE waste is with the government. Patti C. (mom to 3, nursing mom of 18-mo twins and aspiring LC in WI) *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html