Value the Work of Caring for Children
Peggy Orenstein offers a thoughtful commentary on the recent child-care study (Opinion, April 29). She points out that the real issues are how to ensure the ready, affordable availability of high-quality child care as well as how to reform the workplace to allow for the healthiest possible family life. Society ought to value the work of caring for children, regardless of who is doing the care-giving. Mothers who, by necessity or choice, stay at home to care for their children should not have to risk poverty for themselves and their children in the event of divorce. Mothers who, by necessity or choice, place their children in the care of others should neither be faced with inadequate child-care options nor should they face workplaces that do not allow them to accommodate the needs of their children.
There is an international nonprofit organization, Mothers & More, supporting women who move in and out of paid employment during their parenting years.
For more information, visit www.mothersandmore.org.
Kristin Maschka
Pasadena
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I was livid when I read Orenstein’s comment, “It is pathetic, in the year 2001, to have to remind people that two incomes are necessary for basic survival in most families.” Most people who stick their kids in day care don’t do it for economic reasons. They do it because they think they both have to work, or because they both want to, for material possessions.
Basic survival does not include brand-new cars, big-screen TVs, regular massages, fancy dinners out, a spectacular wardrobe, the latest gizmo--you get the picture. It’s called sacrificing to raise your own child. I am a stay-at-home mom of two, and it’s not always easy, but it’s definitely worth it.
Basic survival includes unconditional love, hugs and kisses. Day care is baby-sitting; even the best child care cannot ever come close to a child’s own parent. My kids won’t be little forever, and I wouldn’t dare think of letting, let alone paying for, someone to get to have these precious babies’ affection for a minute, just so I could go to work every day.
Lauren Kuckelman
West Covina