Today's Chronicle of Higher Education had two stories that caught my "academic mom" attention.  First, "Is Having More than 2 Children an Unspoken Taboo?"  Yikes!  If it is, then no one told me.  Of course, on our faculty, we have several professors with 3, 4 or 5 kids, so maybe I just found the right school!  So, I was suprised to see statements like the following:

1.    (from an associate dean for academic affairs) "If anyone told me they wanted three kids, I would be thinking, What, are you nuts?"

2.    "Julianna Baggott knows full well that the third child is often considered the third rail of academe."

3.    "Georgia Frank, an associate professor of religion at Colgate University, says she senses an attitude from some in academe that anyone who has more than two children has surpassed an invisible quota."

No one interviewed me -- maybe co-blogger Lisa got a call?

At the end of this article was a series of tips for having large families in academia -- all reasonable, all known to me, many having to do with childcare, and all with opting in.  None of the suggestions had to do with negotiating for time off or reduced workloads -- just how to maximize the time you have to excel in both the domestic and career spheres.  (I have blogged before about how I love "opt in" policies, not "opt out" policies.)  So, on the heels of this article is another one entitled "Rice U. Minds the Kids so Employees Can Mind Their Jobs."

Having spent much of my adult life in Houston, I live Rice University and Rice people.  I think the only good part of moving away from Houston was that my kids may now want to go to Rice.  If only Rice had a law school!  Anyway, I digress. . . .

So, Rice has implemented various policies to allow its faculty with children to "opt in."  For example, emergency in-home childcare at $4/hour, so when you wake up and your child has a fever, you don't have to cancel your 10:30 class.  Also, a Montessori preschool, subsidized (almost free) daycare, and summer camp!  (I think I've mentioned the crazy quilt of summer camps before!)  So, believe me, when a Rice professor says

"One of the most stressful things about work-life balance is what to do when something goes a little bit wrong, and so a service like this just makes you realize it will be fine. I can't overemphasize how great that benefit is. Rice makes it very, very hard to even think about going anywhere else."

I believe her. And administrators interested in faculty retention should take note!

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