The prosperity of the country in the future is inextricably linked to young generations and their personal success. When working parents do not have an opportunity to send their children to day-care centers or preschools, they are forced to limit their time at the job to spend it on children at home. Subsequently, quite often, it prevents fathers and mothers from earning enough money to provide for their families, which leads to financial struggles and missed opportunities. A lack of professional care for children can hinder their development and result in negative consequences for their health, both physical and mental. As a liberal, I believe that it is the government’s obligation to support working parents by promoting policies which are aimed at facilitating the process of child care. The most reasonable one would be to establish universal child care, which would guarantee free services for all children in the country, and the first step in this transition must be child care benefits.
The importance of universal child care has been discussed by policymakers and various experts for a long time, and its implementation is especially crucial for working parents. As it was mentioned before, situations, when at least one parent has to give up their job opportunities in order to care for the child, are common and imply serious financial losses. As a result, parents do not receive enough money, which could be used to buy products for children. Women are particularly affected by such circumstances since they are more likely to spend their time with children. Moreover, according to studies, early child care helps boys and girls develop their language and socio-emotional skills, as well as motor ones (Felfeab & Lalive, 2018). Thus, universal child care can alleviate the economic problems of working parents and provide children with services which will improve their abilities.
Yet, while the adoption of the system of universal child care and its implementation can be difficult and time-consuming, the provision of child care benefits may help address the current issues immediately. Working parents with low annual household incomes must be the primary recipients of such programs since they live under severe pressure of earning money and caring for their children. Single parents are another vulnerable group, according to the statistics, twenty-six percent of working mothers who live below the poverty line pay for child care themselves (Glynn et al., 2013). A report by the Public Policy Institute of California suggests that providing free preschool services for families with low income can potentially reduce child poverty by 10 to 12 percent (Danielson & Thorman, 2019). Extending the program to cover nursery schools, kindergartens, and day-care centers will not only yield even better results but help children from disadvantaged backgrounds to escape the poverty trap.
Adoption of universal child care must become the government’s priority, and while the process of its implementation is discussed, child care benefits have to be introduced to counter present problems. Working parents who lack resources or other opportunities to send their child to preschools experience difficulties at their jobs since they have to balance their time between caring and working. Universal child care can solve this issue and provide children with free and professional services, which will help them develop properly and improve better language and social skills. Child care benefits can assist in the transition towards the universal system and reduce the financial impact on poor families and working single parents.
References
Danielson, C., & Thorman, T. (2019). The impact of expanding public preschool on child poverty in California. Public Policy Institute of California. Web.
Felfeab, C., & Lalive, R. (2018). Does early child care affect children’s development? The Journal of Public Economics, 159, 33–53. Web.
Glynn, S. J., Farrell, J., & Wu, N. (2013). The importance of preschool and child care for working mothers. Center For American Progress. Web.