We encounter parents like Christina far too often. Striving for the best for their children, working long hours and often piecing together care for their children, but constantly worried the rug could be pulled out from under them at any moment.
It is educators like Christina we need in the early education classroom, providing the emotional and educational foundation for our youngest children to be kindergarten-ready and set on a path for success.
But our child care system is broken and fragile. On one hand, quality early education is not accessible to many parents – either providers don’t have openings, or the price tag is simply too high. But on the other hand, our child care workers are often underpaid and underappreciated, making the turnover in this field enormous and the business model difficult to maintain.
And while this may seem like a business issue – parents can’t maintain employment if they don’t have child care – it is so much more than that. It is our future. The first five years of a child’s life are – inarguably – the most impactful. We have opportunities, unequaled to any other time in that child’s development, to build strong and healthy brains, to establish emotional resilience and build coping skills.
By supporting The Family Conservancy, you can help us bridge the chasms between what families want and need, and what is available to them.