Day-Care Dilemma Needs Solutions

Larry Crouse, Washington state legislator, spent Wednesday morning frosting cookies. He had some eager helpers - Jordan, Stephen and Stefani. Crouse was at Ted E. Bear, a child-care center in his district, the Spokane Valley.

Danyll Van Lierop, who owns and operates Ted E. Bear, hopes Crouse will remember his cookie-frosting buddies as he grapples, legislatively, with child-care issues. Crouse and a dozen other legislators and business people spent Wednesday at Spokane child-care centers. It was part of Worthy Wage Day, a national campaign to improve wages and benefits for child-care employees.

The child-care dilemma is a complex one. How do you give this important work any prestige when the pay is dismal, the benefits non-existent? Day-care costs already stretch most parents’ budgets. This dilemma will be resolved only with collaboration among families, child-care providers, employees, schools and the government.

A tall order, right? Well, The Eastern Washington Family Daycare Association and The Eastern Washington Association for the Education of Young Children haven’t been intimidated. For the past five years they have planned elaborate events on Worthy Wage Day. They’ve sponsored rallies, speeches, conferences and, this year, they thought up Job Shadow Day.

They are the people on the front lines of child care. They know the big difference it makes for children when there is little staff turnover, when their caregivers are paid well and respected. But group members haven’t just whined about this dilemma. Instead, they learned how to get their important message to policy makers and the media.

Their efforts are paying off. Working Mother magazine named Washington one of the 10 best states for child care, because “the state has a powerful network of child care advocates, and they have influenced the funding of care as well as the quality.”

Crouse took home several paper teddy bears Wednesday. Teddy bears the children made for him. Maybe we all need paper teddy bears in our homes and on our desks to remind us that child care is a community challenge.

The little ones in child care now will grow up to be the bigger ones in our schools, neighborhoods, churches. Quality care now translates into better students and citizens. As Shannon Selland, organizer of Worthy Wage Day, says, “Everyone has to work together because these little kids are part of our community, too.”

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Rebecca Nappi/For the editorial board