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My Child Is Sick And I Have To Go To Work, Who Will Care For Her?
I was a single mom working as an assistance in a pre-school. There were times when my daughter was running a high fever and throwing up and I couldn’t afford a baby sister for her. The irony was I had to leave my own sick child by herself at home with no one to care for her while I had to go to work and care for someone’s child. It was 30 years ago. But does our government since then has provided more parental leave for our single and both parents family? When my children were young, I have never heard of Open Doors and Child Care Connections. Child caring for my own children were only among me, myself and I. Nowadays, the low-income working or going to school parents can qualify for our state’s subsidiary in the child care cost. But I know since April of this year in our program for the full-day full-year program, our families had a substantial cut in their assistance from our state government. Some of our families had lost their jobs due to the down turn of the economy. They had to settle with lower paying jobs and yet they have to pay a higher child care cost for their children. Hawaii has the second highest cost of living in the U.S. The average all-day child care in Hawaii is approximately $650 to $850 a month. I am saying this is $650 to $850 take home money that goes only for one child’s day care. If you are in a large extended family, you may have family members to help you in caring for your children. But not every one is so lucky. Sometimes caring for our children fall solely on the family’s shoulders.
In “It’s All Of Our Business”, I was furious to find out before 1978 it was perfectly legal to lay off a mother due to her pregnancy. If you ask any mother who had just given birth to a new baby, what is the most precious time of their motherhood? I am sure the first bonding with their new baby is one of the most memorable time of their motherhood. Hawaii is one of the six states in America that provides T.D.I. for our pregnant mothers. We live in a state that value our pregnant moms.
“Parents can’t afford to pay and teachers can’t afford to stay-there has got to be a better way”. How can we find the better ways to improve our childcare providers’ pay? It is really depressed that some of the childcare workers are making below poverty. It is sad that we live in a country that do not value the important teaching of early childhood education. But I know in our program and some of the private high quality preschools, the teacher’s pay is link to their education. In Head Start, all staff have the access to free higher education. We even have three to four hours a week of education leave to attend classes. There are some non-profit and for profit preschools in Hawaii. They may not be as fortunate as us. How can we help other preschools administrators to realize that in order to have a successful preschool program, they need to provide the funding and the time for their teaching staff to further their education?
I agree, both the lack of compensation and the lack of affordable care are so sad. I am encouraged to hear about Head Start's education policy though. My question is, how can private schools do the same? Should private preschools receive government funding? Believe me, administrators know that education is beneficial and needed but we also have to balance the budget and keep the classrooms covered. How do we raise funds for education of staff and keep our rates affordable for families? fortunatly for us, many of our families qualify for funding but even that is being taken away. I was also plesed to note that Hawaii gives TDI to mothers but what about the other 44 states? Do our children mean so little to us as a nation? What can we do to help bring about change?
ReplyDeleteIf only preschools could be affordable and the government only cared more about and could see how important a child's education is so that parents wouldn't have to leave work to have to pick up their sick child, families could afford the cost of day care centers plus everything at home, and not having to worry about falling into the high or low income section. But unfortunately we don't live in this fantasy world but how life would be like if it were like this.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a point about extended family watching you child when they're sick or because you can't afford. If you couldn't afford childcare as a single parent but had a family member watch your child or grandparents watch your child for you for free & have play dates vs putting them in a preschool to "learn" and paying up the ying yang for childcare, which would you do??? Do you believe a lot of people would put money first before their child's education? Or knowing that you can't afford but yet you still pay to put your child in preschool. I honestly believe that people would put money first because that's what everyone lives off of.
Hi Ivy,
ReplyDeleteThe commitment of administrators and school boards in supporting teachers in professional development is an interesting discussion. Recently, I spoke with a CFO of a local franchised early childhood program who wanted her teachers to engage in professional development but nothing with too much writing because it is too time consuming and the CFO did not want to pay for substitutes. Often there is a lot of talk abut no action or support by administration. What might be a teacher's role in advocating for her own professional development? Does engagement as a lifelong learner involve support of administration or can it be initiated personally? In what ways might this relate to societal beliefs of capitalism?
Jeanne
Being up on new techniques and having educational support is very important, we can never stop learning! Isn't that what we are trying to get into the children to be life learners? I feel that administration should support teachers but I feel that we need to initiate our learning as well. It benefits us and it benefits the children.
ReplyDeleteWhen we look at it, it is all about money and the bottom line. When you look at our society today, childcare is looked upon more as a business more often then not. It is in demand and they want to make more and give out less so that profits are good. More and more it has become more private ownership business and owners may not necessarily know what ECE is all about except it is something everyone with children need and are looking for.
Hello Ivy,
ReplyDeleteIt is quite true that all educators have to learn new teaching techniques and theory for providing a better education! However.....
I had one co-worker who is mother of 4 years old girl and 1 year old baby girl. She told me that she wanted to stay home with her baby but she can't afford to pay the preschool tuition for older daughter. If she works at school, she can get a free tuition for her daughter. She said it is cheaper to pay the baby-sitting for her baby. That's why she has to work at the school as a teacher. Her situation made me feel sad. Tuition and living cost in Hawaii are so expensive that many parents can't afford it. Young children deserve to receive a better education and have opportunities to learn more. They need friends to play with to develop their skills.
Hi Ivy!
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say that I have so much respect for single mother like you. I was also raised by a single parent (my mother) and she worked hard to provide a safe living environment for my sister and I. When my sister or I was sick, there were times we had to stay home alone, because my mother couldn’t afford to miss work. She kept telling us, if she miss work, she might get fired. It is so true that the State of Hawaii does value our pregnant women by providing T.D.I. It’s great living in this awesome state.
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about how we can support our schools if there's no funding. We need children and families to be a part of education and in order to do that we need to support families with funding and schools with funding. How can we leave our sick children home alone just because we can't afford to skip work? How do we send the message to country that many families are not able to provide them children good education. We say that United States are one of the richest countries but yet we can't provide funding for education, maternity leave, and paternity leave.
Aloha Ivy,
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing that our country is said to be one of the richest countries, yet the government is cutting back on funds for our children's education and tuition. How can we insure that our children will continue to receive the education and care they need, knowing the current economic situation? Will our government change it's views on education and its importance?
We are very well aware of the importance of early education and we want to give children the best. I wish that the government would come along side us and give us the funding we need, as well as provide families with funding to secure proper care and education for their children. We need to continue advocating for our children and families by letting our voices be heard in the government and political sectors.
Hi Ivy,
ReplyDeleteI had a few single parents in my class, I don't really know how to help them out beside giving them the information about community helper like the Keiki-family and Kalihi Palama flyers. But in Hong Kong, families hire mates to take care of their children. The mates are to do the cooking, housekeeping, dropping and picking up the children. Mates are not that expensive to get; it's around HK$2,000 about US$250 a month. The children's parents do not need to take off from work. Hong Kong childcare system and method is very different from Hawaii.