Four million American babies will be born in 1998, joining their 12 million older
preschool brothers and sisters. Recent research in the neurosciences and psychology tells
us with ever greater clarity and specificity that nurturing and emotionally satisfying
relationships with adult caregivers during the early years of life are of central
importance in ensuring that these children develop their potential.
A child’s education begins at day one. What children learn, and the habits of mind
on which cognition, emotional well-being, and moral awareness depend, are the product of
the thousands of little interactions that children have with the important people in their
lives. To an extent that will never again be equaled over the life span, a child’s
learning depends critically on human relationships.
That babies are born helpless and dependent and need years of care is not disputed. But
how American children are to receive the care they need is a subject of contentious
debate. Well over half of mothers are back at work before their child is a year old. The
vast majority of fathers haven’t picked up a fair share of the time it takes to run a
household and care for the children. Unlike nearly all other industrialized countries,
U.S. corporate and government policies are woefully inadequate in addressing the child
care needs of families with young children, and millions of children are being put at
substantial risk because of inadequacies in the nation’s child care system.
Excellent affordable care is very scarce. The majority of child care workers are poorly
trained and poorly paid. Paid parental leave for work is almost nonexistent, and the
12-week unpaid leave afforded by recent legislation does not even apply to most mothers
because they work in jobs exempt under the provisions of the law.
PRESIDENT CLINTON has proposed a child care investment package of $21.7 billion over
the next five years. If passed, it could make a significant positive impact on the quality
of child care programs and help families with their cost. Critics of his proposal say that
such assistance will encourage more mothers of young children to go out to work when they
should be staying home.
But the battle line is falsely drawn. Public policy and public money can and should
support choices in child care. Changes in tax laws to increase credits and refunds to
middle- and low-income families with small children will afford opportunity for more
parents to stay home longer with young children. But subsidized child care is essential
for the millions of poor and near-poor families in which there is a single wage earner or
an absolute necessity for two incomes to make ends meet. The special years when children
are primed and eager to discover the world around them must not be wasted in front of the
television because of harried or indifferent caretakers.
Over the course of human history, the nuclear family has never had sole and total
responsibility for the care of children. The isolation experienced by American parents is
a peculiarly modern phenomenon that is endangering children’s welfare. Across the
country parents and communities are developing cooperative child care arrangements, and
some corporations are taking steps to create a more family-friendly environment for
workers.
There are many good ideas and models for improving the quality and availability of
child care, including parent education. Advocates who value families need to speak out in
local forums, at work, to Congress, and to policy makers in support of child care programs
and policies that help parents provide the best possible care for their children, whether
at home or in day care.
ANN BARNET is a pediatric neurologist and RICHARD BARNET is a writer, teacher, and Sojourners
contributing editor. Their book, The Youngest Minds: Parenting and Genes in the
Development of Intellect and Emotion, will be published by Simon & Schuster in
July.
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