A Baby in Parliment

I'm not a Mom yet. I probably won't be for quite some time. But even knowing that getting to be a parent is a far off in the future thing, I already stress out about how on earth we will manage to be good parents, financially sound and mentally stable, especially with me about to enter the demanding (but necessary to pay off student loans) field of law.

So today when I saw the following picture of Licia Ronzulli, a member of the European Union’s Parliament from Italy, sitting and voting in her parliamentary seat, with her newborn baby asleep in a sling, I felt my heart jump a little. Seeing a powerful, accomplished woman simultaneously performing an important job while taking care of her baby? I know that this isn't the whole picture of her life, but it's still a rare image, and maybe even the only one of it's kind I've ever seen.

Good work-life balance is not the norm. It's not how the world is set up. But I am so grateful for every father and mother who pushes a little bit against the norms of how people conceive work and family. 
I don't mean this as an attack on stay-at-home parents, working parents with demanding schedules or anyone else. Those decisions are almost always hard, they almost always involve some sacrifice and they are almost always sincerely made because that is what they feel is best for their family. Any family that tries to make everything work has my respect and admiration. Sometimes we can barely seem to figure things out for just the two of us.

But I also appreciate that every choice individual families make, whether they mean it to or not, affects the general culture and structure we all live and work in and thus affects the choices of others. And yes, I am biased towards people who make choices that I feel help to open up the range of possibilities for everyone. Because I honestly believe that far to often people aren't able to make the best choice possible for themselves and their family because there are so many factors of our culture and our economy that make it impossible for some wonderful options to even be imagined, let alone a reality.

So while I celebrate every family who does their best at figuring everything out, I am especially grateful for the people who push things a little more open for all families and especially give me a little bit of hope that we too can do what is best for our someday family, truly whatever that may be.