early care and education

April 24 is designated as Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.

Designed to be more than a career day, the Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work® program goes beyond the average “shadow” an adult. Exposing girls and boys to what a parent or mentor in their lives do during the work day is important, but showing them the value of their education, helping them discover the power and possibilities associated with a balanced work and family life, providing them an opportunity to share how they envision the future and begin steps toward their end goals in a hands-on and interactive environment is key to their achieving success. Each year, development of new interactive activities and partnerships will assist us in taking girls and boys to the future they dream of.

If handled properly, this can be a rewarding experience for parents and children, and I highly encourage you to participate if you can.

But that's not really the point of this diary. What if you had to take your daughter and son to work, because your child care provider went on strike?

It's no secret that I spend most of my work life focused on children and the people who get paid to take care of them when their parents are at work. So when I saw the following OP-ED in the New York Times, None Dare Call It Child Care, it caught my eye. Author Gail Collins skewers moderator Chris Matthews for asking Republican candidates at the last debate

whether this country would ever get back to the days when a young guy could come out of high school, get an industrial job “and provide for a family with a middle-class income and his spouse wouldn’t have to work.”

Collins points out that since 2/3 of American moms have been in the workforce since the 1980's, the question was as pointless as asking when we'd get back to using manual typewriters or rotary dial phones.