cover image The Baby Boon: How Family-Friendly America Cheats the Childless

The Baby Boon: How Family-Friendly America Cheats the Childless

Elinor Burkett. Free Press, $25 (272pp) ISBN 978-0-684-86303-0

We may think of babies as ""bundles of joy,"" but according to Burkett they are also bundles of cash--for their parents. In this provocative and well-documented study, the journalist and former history professor (Representative Mom, etc.) presents a case that new ""family friendly"" tax credits, child-care benefits and flextime policies, implemented over the past 15 years by government and businesses, not only work to the detriment of those without children but, in reality, help only the most affluent families (usually baby boomers). Drawing on firsthand interviews with parents, social policy makers, business leaders, feminists and elected officials, Burkett writes in a tone of moral outrage, and is unafraid to take controversial stands: she argues that workplace day care, for a series of complex reasons, is overwhelmingly used by middle-class white parents, although all workers pay for it; that school vouchers are essentially a boon for middle- and upper-middle-class parents at the expense of universal public education; and that many ""family friendly"" policies are in direct violation of the 1963 Equal Pay Act that mandated ""pay for work done, rather then for the number of dependents."" But perhaps Burkett's most contentious views are those attacking deeply held beliefs that there is something morally superior about having children, and what she sees as an ingrained prejudice against the childless.This incendiary book promises to stir public debate and elicit strong reactions. (Mar.)