That's Fit

Revolution Health has a new interactive tool, momScore, that ranks states based on the accessibility and quality of maternal health care. To determine the score, a team of health experts compared state-to-state criteria including:

• Access to prenatal care
• Maternal mortality
• Risk of pregnancy complications
• Childcare availability per capita
• Infant mortality
• Air quality
• Violent crime rate
• Access to health insurance
• Affordability of children's health insurance
• Mandatory paid leave policy
  

You can check your state's score overall or by specific health topic. My state ranked roughly in the middle, which was what I expected to see. Where does your state rank?

I'm a single parent and my son is going to be attending a day camp this summer. He's an active kid -- always on the go -- so finding a camp that maintains structure while offering a variety of fun activities was tops on my list. Finding a camp that meets your criteria, is safe and well-staffed, and is beneficial for your child isn't an easy task. Especially when it also needs to be affordable. Here are some tips on choosing the best day camp for your child:

• Talk to your child and ask what he/she is interested in.
• Visit the camp in advance -- see what the grounds are like and meet with the counselors.
• Ask questions about camp policies, what items your child will need, and what the daily schedule will be like.

Summer day camps are a good way to foster your child's interests and encourage him/her to be physically active. I think my son is going to have a great time this summer. His camp has daily swims, team sports, hikes, arts and crafts, and other games. It's reassuring to know your kids are having fun and are well cared for while you're at work.

Managing both a career and being a mother and caregiver is more than demanding. Balancing a job and balancing a family is challenging. The added stress, and physical demands each day wears on a body in the long run and can aid in the cause of many diseases like heart conditions, cancer, hyper tension, inflammation in the body and many more. Women need more flex time, better child care options, benefits for part time work, more paid sick days and family leave without jeopardizing their positions at work if they take time off, and they need better health care coverage that covers more tests on yearly health exams for disease prevention.

The comments to be a "stay at home mom and not work" really urks me because in actuality women who do stay at home work. Being a caregiver is hard work. Many women work separate shifts from their husbands so they can care for children, elderly parents, grandparents, and do household chores during the day and also work in the afternoon and evening. Women are needed more now to help with financial matters in the home to make ends meet. Most women even set up and maintain the family budget so in actuality they are also the family accountants.

The majority of U.S. mothers simply cannot afford to exit paid work because it would devastate their families financially. Additionally, upper and middle income women often are pushed out of their jobs by inflexible work environments that penalize workers who have family responsibilities, not because they blissfully choose to leave. Low income women are expected to work no matter what the circumstances are.

Mothers who do flee the workplace often do so out of frustration. As rewarding as motherhood can be, most women would prefer not to give up their careers entirely. The lack of flexibility at work, childcare issues and societal pressures are what make some women get off the fast-track. Meanwhile, the struggle persists for women who simply can't take the choice to not work because they rely on their jobs for a steady paycheck and health insurance.

One of the largest studies in child care and development by the National Institutes of Health has come to the conclusion that daycare, particularly poor quality daycare, can have a significantly negative impact on your child's vocabulary and behavior patterns, especially when they're young and just starting school. Experts say that the study results are definitely measurable and therefore concerning, although they also say they aren't so obvious that a person could walk into a classroom of youngsters and pick out who had had quality child care and who hadn't.

Regardless, it definitely makes a strong case for serious examination of your child care situation: quality counts.