Child Care
...ioning. Children who do not receive adequate child care have shown to enter school behind other children, making it difficult to catch up. Therefore, overall children with earlier child care experiences demonstrate a higher degree of academic readiness, than children that do not have this experience (Whitaker, 2003). For mothers that do not work, quality child care can be very convenient and helpful in times of stress, illness or when faced with other difficulties or emergencies. It also can provide an informal support network with other families when lacking extended family nearby. Having some sort of support when raising a family is comforting, especially when you can relate to people in similar situations (Clarke-Stewart, 1994). Child care services can also be quite valuable to those children with special needs. These children require special attention and education that their families may not be able to provide. Quality child care provides trained care takers that can help develop appropriate or lacking skills. This in turn gives the family a supportive foundation and helps ease the difficulties of attending to a special needs child (Doherty, 1995). Research also shows that child care can provide early intervention for children who are living in a family, where there is less opportunity to achieve appropriate developmental skills due to poverty, abuse or illness. For example, children living below the poverty line are linked to having social and academic problems. They also are more likely to experience low birth weight and infant mortality, malnutrition or other illnesses which can delay development (Cryer & Harms, 2000). Children are poor because their families are poor due to low income jobs or no income. In 1995, Canada reported having nearly one-quarter of children under the age of 3, living in poverty. This is obviously a high percentage and in order to help children get out of poverty, parents should be given reliable child care in order to gain the education and work they need to get out of it. Quality child care can increase family income by allowing a single parent or the second parent to work, or by allowing a parent to engage in full-time work instead of part-time work (Kelly, 2003). Quality care not only provides financial rewards to the family of disadvantaged children, but it can also help maximize their opportunity to become functional and prosperous citizens of the future. In Doherty-Derkowshki’s book, Quality Matters; longitudinal research pointed out how the affect of high quality child care not only provides positive experiences for all children in their progression of development, but it also has significant benefits later in life. They are more likely to finish school and contain more initiative in furthering their education and excelling in the labour market (Steen, 1988). This in the long run helps society function, since more skilled workers in the workforce contribute to its well-being. Child care can also aid in preparing and educating children to live in Canada’s diverse society. Canada is consisted of many people from different cultural ethnicities, backgrounds, religions and beliefs. A quality child care setting provides children with the opportunity to learn appropriate attitudes and skills needed to interact with people from diverse backgrounds. Also learning these attitudes and skills early, allow for no biases or prejudices to establish themselves ahead of time. Learning to work with other children earlier in life, helps achieve cooperation in the future (Yodanis, 2002). It is therefore evident that, a child’s development, progression and academic success has a connection with the characteristics of the child care they experience. Quality child care allows a child to receive adequate developmental skills that will benefit them in the future academically, socially and financially. It also provides support for parents and allows them to increase their income at times, which is also beneficial to children and the economy. For women to have opportunities in regards to education and work there must be sufficient quality child care at affordable prices. By providing communities with quality child care, women can maximize there potential opportunities. These opportunities are very important for a women’s well-being. It provides them with equality and a chance to escape the traditional ideal role of the women. In the past women were homebound and were solely given the responsibility of the child care. They were expected to create a haven in their home for their working husbands, giving them no opportunity for a life outside the home (Somerville, 2003). Lack of quality child care can cause a mother to be out of the paid workforce for some time. This can have a dramatic effect on the family income and many lower the family’s standard of living considerably. It can cause a single or poor mother to depend on minimal social assistance payments for subsistence needs. It also can cause a woman to face significant reductions in her lifetime earnings and may as well keep her away from the workforce at a time in her life where she could be establishing a successful career. Work experience, career advancement and seniority are also opportunities that women out of the workforce do not get to experience. Without taking advantage of these opportunities, women out of the workforce do not become very qualified or appealing employees when they do enter or return to the workforce. There prior knowledge and skills become obsolete, creating poor marketability and earning power. Also the risk of divorce can cause major negative effects on the standard of living and economic well-being of the mother and child. If a mother is engaging in the workforce, she is protected against this lost and is taking care of the economic well-being of her children (Doherty, 1995). Some women who do not have adequate child care may take extended leaves from the paid workforce to care for their young. This can result in a smaller Canada Pension Plan when she retires, than she would have had otherwise. Quality child care can help avoid labour force policies that discriminate against women who take extended leaves to attend to their families. This helps society as a whole economically and does not affect the well-being of a woman in a negative way. Family policies are very useful to have intact because they complement child care services and are helpful for parents in meeting their work and family obligations. Policies such as maternity and parental leave are important in the development of appropriate strategies for achieving quality child care. Quality child care can guide in providing an adequate incomes for families, therefore benefiting the child economically as well (Kelly, 2003). Quality child care has also been credited in improving employee morale of women, as well as reducing parenting conflicts and the anxieties they may feel concerning their children’s well-being. Women who are able to join the labour force tend to develop certain skills and values, which they project onto their children. These create healthy home environments and also an environment which is more closely related to the climate of the classroom. Children living under these circumstances develop a stronger moral outlook and develop stronger intellectual skills. This creates the advantage of getting ahead and excelling further, than those children who lack this opportunity (Brym, 2001). It becomes a major problem when women are not able to find jobs that can adequately fit a lifestyle where they can support a family financially and care for them at the same time. Women working part-time, not only earn less then full-time workers but also have less adequate access to employer provided benefits. Therefore it is quite evident how the lack of quality child care can have very profound and negative impacts on women. It has a huge economic impact on a mother’s participation in the labour force, and also on family life in general. Having the opportunity to work outside the home is something all women should be granted if they chose to do so. Women in the public sphere gain satisfaction from their jobs and are able to create independence financially and socially. This can take away from the burden of feeling solely responsible for the care of children. Giving women more opportunities and freedom helps the society achieve social and economic equality (Kelly, 2003). By providing employees with high quality child care at affordable prices, the production of a workplace becomes quite positive according to the Journal: The Strange History of Employer-Sponsored Child Care: Interested Actors, Uncertainty, and the Transformation of Law in Organizational, by Erin Kelly Payne. Employers benefit from having a decrease in absenteeism rates and increased productivity. According the Canadian National Child Care S...