1Reviews and everything / Child-care dilemma summary
.docAlex Kvartalny @ flamedragon27.blogspot.com
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The Child-Care Dilemma Detailed Summary
The article The Child-Care Dilemma touches upon an acute problem in the United States today – that is of quality child-care. The author provides reasons for the lack of it in the country and suggests that the business sector is more likely to tackle the issue than anybody else.
Marena McPherson, 37, is expecting a baby in less than a month and still has many concerns, like choosing a name, furnishing the baby’s room, reading up on infant care, attending child-birth classes and there is also an overriding problem that she, like most of American mothers, has to tackle. That is the problem of looking after the child after she returns to work.
Having only two months of sick paid-leave and vacation time, Ms. McPherson will have to choose either of the two options available for her in Chicago. The former – a day-care centre – is expensive and will probably not be able to provide the necessary care for the child. Having a baby-sitter come to her home, however, is advantageous because of the sense of security and family and a possibility to choose someone who reflects her own values despite the cost and reliability of that kind of supervision.
More women with young children are in the labour force now than they used to be 15 years ago. About half of mothers in America, according to the author, return to work before their child’s first birthday for economic reasons.
Professor of human development at Pennsylvania State University says the American society depends on female labour and, consequently, needs a child-care system. That is why millions of families need someone to look after their kids. The author points out that the trend is likely to accelerate.
For the time being there are certain drawbacks in the child-care system, for instance lack of availability, affordability, good quality of day care and long waiting lists at good facilities. In addition to finding an acceptable arrangement, there is also a trouble of maintaining it. Michele Theriot, for example, had to give up the idea with au pairs and try ‘family-care’ arrangement instead, which was far from satisfactory. The centre she finally chose is not that much better and neither she nor her child feels positive about it.
There have been many suggestions about what kind of adults are likely to grow out of kids raised in the hands of untrained, overworked personnel but one thing is known for sure: kids don’t get the stimulation they need.
The demand for infant-care is rooted in the fact that the U.S. is the only Western industrialized nation that does not guarantee a working mother the right to a leave of absence after she has a child while the absence of national policies reflects traditional American attitudes along with the flag and the apple pie. And day-care, to some, threatens American values.
As a result, without federal help poor mothers have to leave their young children alone for long periods of time, entrust them to their brothers and sisters only slightly older or give up on working.
The author goes back to the ways the problem was tackled several centuries ago and continues with how the situation evolved, also giving two reasons why the problem emerged lately – feminism and the economic recessions and inflation of the 1970s. The latter made the Reagan administration reduce the federal role in child-care. The business has not stepped in to fill the government’s void and only a small number of employers provide on-site or near-site day-care facilities.
The author continues that, basically, there are three types of day care in the USA: ‘family’ or ‘home-based’ care for small children, organized day-care centres or preschools and supervision in a child’s own home by a nanny, sitter, relative or a friend for older children. Experts worry that quality care may only be available for the affluent.
However, some companies begin to understand the importance of providing day-care services for their employees and are able to reduce turnover and absenteeism, save on sick-leave due to stress-related illnesses. At the end of the article the author expresses the opinion that it is in the companies that the future of the child-care system lies. In addition to that the generation of workers graduating from college today belongs to ‘baby-bust’ generation, which will force employers to be creative in searching for labour, as child-care arrangements may become the fringe benefits of the 21st century.