You are a working parent in need of child care. You’d like some assurances that the person or persons watching your children can be trusted.

You’d like for the facilities themselves to meet minimal health and safety standards.

Problem is, you live in Idaho, where politicians have historically been rewarded for bashing government regulations.

So you cross your fingers as you drop off your kids, knowing that day-care facilities that take fewer than 13 children are not required to conduct criminal background checks on workers or meet minimum staffing levels.

Workers don’t even have to have basic first-aid certification. Plus, there are no regulations for alcohol use, smoking or firearms storage.

You aren’t happy about this, and a growing number of parents are in agreement. But it seems that the folks you voted into office are slow to pick up on your real world concerns.

Oddly, they don’t mind requiring licenses for dog groomers or hair stylists. They don’t even mind licensing large day-care facilities. But when it comes to smaller centers, they balk.

You find this especially strange in a state where crimes against children have been so prominently reported. Have they not heard of Joseph Duncan? Why won’t they give parents the piece of mind that would come with minimal standards?

State Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d’Alene, hears you, and for the third consecutive year he’s trying to get the Idaho Legislature to adopt some basic guidelines for small to mid-size day-care facilities. Some cities, such as Coeur d’Alene, already have them in place.

This year, Sayler appears to be making more headway, but resistance on the House Health and Welfare Committee has forced him to compromise by dropping guidelines for facilities that take five or fewer children. The concern is that licensing for smaller centers would be too disruptive to rural residents who drop their kids off at friends’ homes. But city dwellers also do this and it hasn’t been thwarted by licensing. Besides, protecting children shouldn’t just be an urban concern.

Nonetheless, Sayler can count votes and he figures it’s better to get regulations for mid-sized facilities for now.

However, confusion ensued when he offered amendments, so the committee tabled the issue.

Last year, proponents of basic regulations came armed with a survey of 1,300 parents that showed they were unhappy with current standards. In overwhelming numbers, they called for criminal background checks and basic first-aid education for workers.

Most kids in Idaho are in some sort of child care. Most parents want the kind of standards that are typical in other states. It’s time lawmakers put pragmatism above ideology and delivered for their constituents.