A child care provider is the mother of young life.
She nourishes the children, brings them up—gives them energy, her resources, her nerve and all the possibilities to come true—when needed or ready.
To not pay her a decent wage is undervaluing the care.
To over-regulate her can decrease the supply and raise the cost.
To under-regulate her can harm the quality.
To zone her out of residential neighborhoods does not fit in a society that "values" children.
And yet, all these misdeeds are committed state-wide.
Nobody is made really and effectively responsible.
Yet we all are!
That's why the misdeeds can go on and even increase.
Collective responsibility is hidden by our ignorance and greed.
At present we live in a world out of balance.
We work with no support for family and child care needs.
We live lives of turmoil because of a system unable to care.
We live lives that call for another way of living.
Can biotechnologists build a child who requires less nurturing, less loving? or
Can we foster conditions that help, rather than hurt, families using child care?
It will oblige all of us to assign a new value to families, children and child care.
It will oblige us to establish a strong public policy so that children and child care are valued as more than a mere "life style" option.1
On a personal level, as a mother of four young children and as a consumer of child-care services, I can well relate to the issue of child care.
Policy Frameworks and Parental Choice: Using Conjoint Analysis to Understand Parental Decision Making for Child Care