Monday, February 23, 2009
To Stay Home or Not?
I read this great article from the washington post titled Who Should Care for This Child? its an interesting and thought provoking article about making decisions about child care and all the factors which must be considered. Is a full time stay at home really the best or only if that is what her aspirations are? Can a woman afford to stay home or is child care to expensive to be worth it? Would a child be better served by a mother with a career who has more finicial resources available? The author of the article says... It depends! On what works the best for the parent, because whatever works best for the parent will ultimately be the best for the child too=) Now does that sound like someone from the sanguine camp to you? I thought so... but I am curious what your thoughts and reactions are to the article.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Paid Versus Unpaid Labor.
I've thought a lot about the issues that were discussed in small groups the last few minutes of class on wednesday (and during class) concerning the cost of rearing a child and the argument that the costs are private and the gains are public (of successfully raising a child) I don't know how to fix/change/influence this, however, Lucas had an interesting idea that I would like to explore a little more in this blog.
It is based on social security benefits, I'm acknowledging right now that there is a lot that I don't know/understand about social security...mostly because I have never expected it to stick around long enough to influence me on the other end. Okay so the dilemma is that a woman who chooses to stay at home and raise children IS eligible for a certain percentage of what her husbands social security benefit would be... So, IF her husband has a decent job, anf IF they are married for at least 10 years, and IF she is unemployed for 7 years (I think thats right) then she is eligible for the pecentage. The problem here is that being a mom (i.e. homemaker or whatever you want to call it) is labour! It's just not paid, so perfect example of private cost (her loss of income) and public gain (all the kids who are raised to be industrious taxpayers). Not being a policy guru or a economics whiz I have no great solutions only frustrations and questions about a topic that I think is important.
Especially in light of the lady who just had 8 babies (on top of the 6 that she had) is there a way to support moms who are doing unpaid labor without encouraging unemployment and dependency on a government system? I haven't read anything yet that was worth posting, so I'll keep reading and add it later if I find anything helpful or profound. In the mean time I always welcome your thoughts and or opinions.
It is based on social security benefits, I'm acknowledging right now that there is a lot that I don't know/understand about social security...mostly because I have never expected it to stick around long enough to influence me on the other end. Okay so the dilemma is that a woman who chooses to stay at home and raise children IS eligible for a certain percentage of what her husbands social security benefit would be... So, IF her husband has a decent job, anf IF they are married for at least 10 years, and IF she is unemployed for 7 years (I think thats right) then she is eligible for the pecentage. The problem here is that being a mom (i.e. homemaker or whatever you want to call it) is labour! It's just not paid, so perfect example of private cost (her loss of income) and public gain (all the kids who are raised to be industrious taxpayers). Not being a policy guru or a economics whiz I have no great solutions only frustrations and questions about a topic that I think is important.
Especially in light of the lady who just had 8 babies (on top of the 6 that she had) is there a way to support moms who are doing unpaid labor without encouraging unemployment and dependency on a government system? I haven't read anything yet that was worth posting, so I'll keep reading and add it later if I find anything helpful or profound. In the mean time I always welcome your thoughts and or opinions.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Socialized Child Care?
It is not my intention to beleaguer this topic. However, we have already read (and discussed some) about maternity leave, paternity leave and parental leave in general. I have also posted some information (and opinion) on child care, the history of it and the current trend of it often being very unaffordable.
I found this little clip on youtube that discusses all of these issues and how they are approached in Sweden (there's lots of info that comes from Sweden) It's only a few minutes long if you want to watch it click here and then I would be interested to hear your thoughts and opinions.
To me the idea of affordable child care for everyone is highly appealing. Sweden goes so far as to guarantee a spot for each child in a facility. However, when discussing this topic with some friends they indicated their belief that any program which is "socialized" decreases in quality and effectiveness. As an example they cited health care in other countries. Now I am not trying to change topics here but it is an interesting idea. Would child care programs decrease in quality if there were some federal policies which increased the availability and affordability of childcare? I am so far without a definite opinion on this, for an opinionated person that is not comfortable!!! So if anyone has idea or opinions on the topic I would be highly interested in your thoughts.
I found this little clip on youtube that discusses all of these issues and how they are approached in Sweden (there's lots of info that comes from Sweden) It's only a few minutes long if you want to watch it click here and then I would be interested to hear your thoughts and opinions.
To me the idea of affordable child care for everyone is highly appealing. Sweden goes so far as to guarantee a spot for each child in a facility. However, when discussing this topic with some friends they indicated their belief that any program which is "socialized" decreases in quality and effectiveness. As an example they cited health care in other countries. Now I am not trying to change topics here but it is an interesting idea. Would child care programs decrease in quality if there were some federal policies which increased the availability and affordability of childcare? I am so far without a definite opinion on this, for an opinionated person that is not comfortable!!! So if anyone has idea or opinions on the topic I would be highly interested in your thoughts.
Friday, January 30, 2009
History of child care in the United States
In reading about child care options both in the U.S. and in other countries I came across this article A Brief History of Federal Financing for Child Care in the United States
which discusses (as implied by the title of my post) the history of out of home child care, how/why it started, and the original funding sources. If you are interested in reading it this is the link, however, if your not interested I'm gonna share the parts which were the most interesting or salient to me personally.
First was that child care (for all family structures) is not a new issue. Out of home child care has been offered from a variety of sources and for several reasons. Inlcuding increase of maternal employment due to economic need.
However, due to the very individualistic nature of our society there hasn't been (until recently) much support for federal involvement in funding child care. The general attitude has been that individuals are responsible for the care of their own children. In fact According to the 1930 report issued by the White House Conference on Children, “No one should get the idea that Uncle Sam is going to rock the baby to sleep.” (See attached article)
It has only been in the last 60-70 years that as more middle class women have entered the workforce, that attitudes have changed to be more supportive of child care in general.
Federal funding (while it does exist) has been very difficult to structure and still lacks the criteria of being organized, consistent, and structured. The intertia behind the original organization of federal funding for childcare did not outlive the depression which had necesitated it in the first place. Currently our federal care financing system is really no system at all, but is actually a collection of funding streams.
The article discusses at length the various social policies (which concern child care) which have been put in place during the last 70ish years. It's not my intention to recap what I read (so I didn't) just to share a brief glimpse of what I've learned in order to comment on it. My views on social policy and government involvement are (admitedly) still forming. The readings that we've had and some of the discussions in class, combined with my ever increasing realization of the enormous responsibility of careing for a child are sparking some very interesting debates... with myself! These questions have invited me to examine my own values (i.e. indiviudalistic) and the values of my subculture (in particular my family and religion) and then try to sort out what my opinions are... which ones are flexible to change... and why my opinions are what they are! I can not say that this is a comfortable process ( I get in fights with me frequently these days) however, I am excited to form opinions on policy issues (such as child care) which I had not really considered before.
Now that was a little bit of a personal rant (hope you'll forgive me) but the purpose of this blog (as I understand it) is an open forum to express our opinons and thoughts. Currently these are my opinions and thoughts. Tune in for more at a later time.
which discusses (as implied by the title of my post) the history of out of home child care, how/why it started, and the original funding sources. If you are interested in reading it this is the link, however, if your not interested I'm gonna share the parts which were the most interesting or salient to me personally.
First was that child care (for all family structures) is not a new issue. Out of home child care has been offered from a variety of sources and for several reasons. Inlcuding increase of maternal employment due to economic need.
However, due to the very individualistic nature of our society there hasn't been (until recently) much support for federal involvement in funding child care. The general attitude has been that individuals are responsible for the care of their own children. In fact According to the 1930 report issued by the White House Conference on Children, “No one should get the idea that Uncle Sam is going to rock the baby to sleep.” (See attached article)
It has only been in the last 60-70 years that as more middle class women have entered the workforce, that attitudes have changed to be more supportive of child care in general.
Federal funding (while it does exist) has been very difficult to structure and still lacks the criteria of being organized, consistent, and structured. The intertia behind the original organization of federal funding for childcare did not outlive the depression which had necesitated it in the first place. Currently our federal care financing system is really no system at all, but is actually a collection of funding streams.
The article discusses at length the various social policies (which concern child care) which have been put in place during the last 70ish years. It's not my intention to recap what I read (so I didn't) just to share a brief glimpse of what I've learned in order to comment on it. My views on social policy and government involvement are (admitedly) still forming. The readings that we've had and some of the discussions in class, combined with my ever increasing realization of the enormous responsibility of careing for a child are sparking some very interesting debates... with myself! These questions have invited me to examine my own values (i.e. indiviudalistic) and the values of my subculture (in particular my family and religion) and then try to sort out what my opinions are... which ones are flexible to change... and why my opinions are what they are! I can not say that this is a comfortable process ( I get in fights with me frequently these days) however, I am excited to form opinions on policy issues (such as child care) which I had not really considered before.
Now that was a little bit of a personal rant (hope you'll forgive me) but the purpose of this blog (as I understand it) is an open forum to express our opinons and thoughts. Currently these are my opinions and thoughts. Tune in for more at a later time.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Child Care Options in the U.S.
I am interested in this topic for several reasons. Initially I realized how inadequate the options are for working mothers when my little sister (a single mom) went to work after a divorce in order to support her and her son. However, the high cost of child care makes it impossible for her to make enough money to pay other bills. As discussed in class on Wednesday the options for child care which are currently available are highly inadequate.
In fact according to what I read a single parent who makes an average of $19,000 a year can expect to pay 41 percent of that income or an average of $7,800 a year to pay for child care. A single parent family with two children needing child care (these numbers are specifically for North Carolina but are fairly typical) will pay about $14,556 on average or 76.6 percent of the median family income. With costs like this it would actually be cheaper to send your child to College than to pay for childcare or kindergarten.
There is an interesting article on this if you are interested in reading. The information is good but I have to admit to being a little discouraged by the whole thing. I am not a family finance/consumer science person (although I do like money) and yet can't help seeing the really negative repercussions financially of the high cost of child care. Honestly, No wonder the birth rate in the U.S. is negative there are lots of reasons to not have children (the discomforts of pregnancy being only one=) and there are TONS of reasons to delay having children or significantly limit the number you have. The financial burdens are high for a two parent family... The cost to a single parent is comparatively astronomical. On a more positive note, hopefully there are policies that could be implemented to alleviate the burden of child care for both single parents and the two parent families.
In fact according to what I read a single parent who makes an average of $19,000 a year can expect to pay 41 percent of that income or an average of $7,800 a year to pay for child care. A single parent family with two children needing child care (these numbers are specifically for North Carolina but are fairly typical) will pay about $14,556 on average or 76.6 percent of the median family income. With costs like this it would actually be cheaper to send your child to College than to pay for childcare or kindergarten.
There is an interesting article on this if you are interested in reading. The information is good but I have to admit to being a little discouraged by the whole thing. I am not a family finance/consumer science person (although I do like money) and yet can't help seeing the really negative repercussions financially of the high cost of child care. Honestly, No wonder the birth rate in the U.S. is negative there are lots of reasons to not have children (the discomforts of pregnancy being only one=) and there are TONS of reasons to delay having children or significantly limit the number you have. The financial burdens are high for a two parent family... The cost to a single parent is comparatively astronomical. On a more positive note, hopefully there are policies that could be implemented to alleviate the burden of child care for both single parents and the two parent families.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
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