The Child Care Industry May Have Affected Early Childhood Development
By Kayla Kleven| May 25, 2019
The Child Care Industry has been in a crisis for nearly 2 decades. The importance of child care for children is crucial. The reason for this is children’s brains grow at a rapid rate within the three years of life.
The problems are abundant and need to be brought to the forefront of minds. In 35 states, Families pay more for child care than for their mortgages. According to a New York times article, we spend roughly six times less on education for infants and toddlers then we do on K-12.
Child Care is so expensive nowadays that either the mother or the father having to leave work to take care of their children. In a 2018 survey conducted by the Center for American Progress, mothers were 40 percent more likely than fathers to report that they had personally felt the negative impact of child care issues on their careers.
Child Care is where children learn how to behave, share, and make connections. The stage when the child is a toddler their brain is like a sponge and soaks up all information that it is presented. Children learn about relationship building and if there is any trauma it can be reversed by the strong relationships that are put into place.
Since we know how much childcare can benefit a child in its early years, how the public thinks about childcare needs to shift. In a 2017 poll done by the first 5 years found that 89% of voters making early childcare education affordable for working families is a priority.
Making Strides towards this change is a must. The First step would to give families 6 months of parental leave. This would help with the shortage of childcare and allow the infants and family bonding time. Secondly would be to have better compensation for educators.
Although this is just a start it is a step in the right direction and as this stays at the forefront of peoples minds we will start to see changes happening.