France, Sweden, and Denmark famously subsidize childcare for all their citizens, and there’s a growing movement calling for the same in the United States. But childcare is expensive — it’s as costly as college, if you can even find a high-quality facility with room for your child. Opponents point out subsidized childcare requires many Europeans to pay higher taxes, argue it would create more government dependency. Everyone should just take care of their own kids. What do you think?
PERSPECTIVES
Subsidizing child care improves worker retention, boosts our economy and results in better public health outcomes. Plus, it’s high time Americans got with the program. The male breadwinner-female caregiver family model has gone the way of the Edsel, and it’s time we changed policy to fit reality:
Day care, in other words, has become a permanent reality, although the public conversation barely reflects that fact. The issue of child care is either neglected as a “women’s issue” or obsessed over in mommy-wars debates about the virtues of day care versus stay-at-home moms … we still haven’t come to terms with the shift of women from the home to the workplace.
But for many conservatives, it’s an issue of responsibility. Why should the government have to pay for someone to take care of your child while you are at work? It’s a similar argument to the one against state-sponsored health insurance; the government isn’t here to take care of us, we need to take care of ourselves. If you’re going to have children, you need to figure out how they will be taken care of.
thetylt.com
Advocacy groups point out the prohibitive expense of American childcare holds back low-income families economically and developmentally:
Since the 1980s, child care costs have nearly doubled; in 31 states, infant day care costs more annually than in-state college tuition.
How does this help families get ahead? #ChildCareForAll #Fightfor15 pic.twitter.com/DlyCpUTdHz
— FightFor15 ChildCare (@FF15ChildCare) January 26, 2017
Others just find subsidized childcare fundamentally unfair, and think it should be up to individual families to take responsibility for themselves.
@kmt188 @JoyAnnReid You take care of you OWN kids or you PAY for child care. Don’t expect the taxpayer to pay for your childcare!! WTH!!!!!
— DemToRep2016 (@AZroadunner) January 3, 2017
Former President Barack Obama and others argue that creating a sustainable, affordable public daycare system in America is a must-have, and that it’s time to move beyond prejudice against single parents and outmoded ideas of family life. Two-thirds of American mothers work outside the home today. At the New Republic, Jonathan Cohen argues:
The United States has always been profoundly uncomfortable with the idea of supporting child care outside the home, for reasons that inevitably trace back to beliefs over the proper role of women and mothers. thetylt.com
The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Digital, Inc. property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt or on Facebook, we’d love to hear what you have to say.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
