the First Lady\u2019s comments<\/a> made such an impact on me.<\/p>\n\u201cThere were 10 years when I couldn\u2019t stand my husband, and guess when it happened, when
\nthose kids were little…,\u201d The First Lady tells her interviewers. \u201cLittle kids, they\u2019re terrorists. They
\nhave demands, they don\u2019t talk, they\u2019re poor communicators, they cry all the time, they’re
\nirrational, they\u2019re selfish, they\u2019re needy\u2026You can\u2019t blame them, they\u2019re cute\u2026so you turn that
\nire on each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now in some ways, I understand where she\u2019s coming from. Parenting is a huge responsibility
\nthat often falls on mothers. Black mothers in particular also face much more scrutiny than white\u00a0or non-black mothers for their parenting.<\/p>\n
Feminists such as Silvia Federici have coined the term social reproductive labor, which is the
\nwork needed to sustain capitalism outside of the workplace. This includes domestic labor,
\nraising children, and caring for working spouses. This gendered division of labor works to
\nexpand capitalism outside of the workplace and into the home.<\/p>\n
However, it is never okay to make such sweeping generalizations about an entire group of
\npeople, especially with the kind of platform Michelle Obama has as a former First Lady. And if a
\nHarvard-educated woman living in a mansion paid for by the government is struggling to raise her kids,\u00a0what does that say about the rest of us?<\/p>\n
Many complain that Millenials are not having children or buying homes when this is a sign that
\nmost Americans are financially struggling and can barely afford to sustain themselves, let alone
\na family.<\/p>\n
Under capitalism, anyone who cannot work or earn money is often seen as a financial burden,
\nwhich often lessens people\u2019s empathy and care for children and vulnerable communities.
\nMany blame working-class and marginalized parents for having children, but that same criticism
\nis never turned toward the systems and politicians that create poverty and labor exploitation;
\nThe conditions that lead to childhood poverty, neglect, and trauma.<\/p>\n
I believe that children are just as important to anti-capitalist movements as any marginalized
\ngroup. For example, the recent UC graduate worker strike where student workers were fighting
\nfor affordable childcare and housing. I was living on campus at UCSC when the student workers
\nmarched with their strollers and young children.<\/p>\n
Parents are overworked both in the workplace and at home, and this impacts the relationships
\nthey have with their partners and children. If more of our needs were met by our communities,
\nand social safety nets, parents would have more time to focus on their children and their
\nrelationships with partners or friends, reducing stress and resentment in families.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Michelle Obama Blames Her Relationship Challenges On Her Young Daughters By Milo Santamaria | January 2023 I was a child in the early 2000s, which means I grew up during the Obama administration. I was eight, almost nine, years old when former president Obama was inaugurated for his first term. And I\u2019m old enough now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[25,26],"class_list":["post-160767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-media-lies","tag-michelle-obama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=160767"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161058,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160767\/revisions\/161058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=160767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=160767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthfacts.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=160767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}