Lack of “affordable child care” is also on the list of buzzwords that modern parents list as reasons for not having children. This claim is based on several assumptions built into the euphemisms of “affordability” and “child care.” First, let's look at the core of the problem: child care.
“Child-rearing” is a concept that remains when “raising a child” is left to someone other than the parents. Cleansed and stripped of profundity, this language assuages anxious parents (usually mothers) of guilt for outsourcing active attachment to young children.
“Affordable” does not simply mean low or no cost. It means being subject to the whims of bureaucrats.
Caring for children is certainly routine, but viewing the activity as simply monitoring food, waste, and basic safety implicitly requires weakening the relationship between mother and child. This relationship includes supervision, cooking, and cleaning, but also physical and emotional coexistence. According to psychologist and author Erika Komisar, mothers and children co-regulate mentally and emotionally during early childhood. This co-regulation, the stability provided by the mother's presence, lays the foundation for psychological well-being.
Smart child care facilities are starting to call themselves “.schoolA “teacher” appears instead of a nanny, instead of a nursery school or its employees, as if a six-month-old child needs guidance instead of a mother. In doing so, the concept and practice of “parenting” tricks us into thinking that the mother's constant attitude, maternal presence, and love can not only be seamlessly replaced, but exchanged for something more enlightening.
We believe that a mother's special daily love in the form of caregiving is not only secondary in importance to the “education'' and “education'' that institutions express in colorful and euphemistic terms; We should believe that it is basically irrelevant. “Socialization”.
The supporting euphemism “affordable” does a lot on its own.
First of all, the word “affordable” means completely different things to different people. There is no universal application unless you mean “no cost”. So what affordability actually means in this context is a “universal federal subsidy” that is supposed to make quality child care available to everyone. . To believe this fantasy, interlocutors simply need to pretend they haven't seen the results of the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Departments of Transportation.
quebec canada experiment Children in universal government child care were significantly more anxious, aggressive, and hyperactive than children who did not participate in child care, and were more likely to experience hostile and inconsistent parenting and poor parent-child relationships. It's easier to fall into it. As children grew older, these negative outcomes persisted and in some cases, especially for boys, increased.
“Affordable” does not simply mean low or no cost. It means being subject to the whims of bureaucracy, which not only tends to deteriorate relationships between caregivers and children, but also tends to introduce high costs. rules Occupational licenses, zoning restrictions, and other random ordinances do not increase a child's experience.
In summary, “affordable child care” completely replaces the role of parents in favor of a literal nanny state. Leave policy matters to policy experts. The Soviet attitude of diminishing human spirit, love, and true prosperity in favor of money is more than a matter of policy. It is a cultural expression of values, or rather of nihilism.
If we continue to view the role of mother as irreplaceably inferior, why do women make such choices? Why lower themselves? The fertility crisis requires a change in policy.
It's not that other things in life aren't important. Money is important. Saving for retirement is important. A carrier can be important at times, especially as it allows you to purchase expensive items. But having to pretend that raising your children and building a foundation of trust is not important in comparison is a red flag. This has become a cultural norm, exemplified by millennial parents' calls for government subsidies for the childcare industry, but it's a lie.
