Unique contributions to society
Find a Conversation
| Thu, 10-19-2006 - 4:12pm |
In another thread, the "unique" contributions of SAHM's were alluded to but it wasn't stated what they are. Let's play a game and find out what they are. First, pretend that as of tomorrow, all moms SAH and detail what will be missing from society then pretend that all moms go to work and detail what will be missing from society. I'm really curious as to what people think a world without SAHM's orWOHM's would look like.
If all the moms who SAH went to work then the library would move story hour to the evening and summer vacation bible school would be held in the evenings so that all kids can attend and not just the kids of SAHM's. Banks would likely shift their hours to later in the day and you'd see more 24 hour stores. I think there would be more home cooking style restaurants too. I think day care centers would improve because of increased demand.
If all moms who WOH suddenly SAH, you'd see fewer service industries around because moms could do things themselves instead of paying for them. The nursing shortage would be more of a shortage. We'd probably have a shortage of teachers too. There'd be fewer government services because there'd be less tax dollars to pay for them. I can't think of anything else right now.

Pages
I'm not personally a big fan of all-day K either, although my younger dd went to all-day K last year, and I liked it better than I thought I would. I think 7 hrs/day of structured activities is a lot for a 5-yr-old, and although you're right that many of these kids are in dc, imo school involves greater structure, higher expectations, and a lot more academics. OTOH, if my choice were all-day K vs. half-day K plus afterschool care, I'd definitely go with the all-day K.
I agree that all-day K is good for kids who might be coming to school behind.
Jennie
All you have to do is look at the help wanted ads in the newspaper to see how easy it is to be a childcare worker. Every ad in my paper today says "some early childhood development education prefered". The average dc worker is paid less than $10.00 per hour. You can only require so much education for that level of compensation.
I wasn't discussing substitute teachers, but they do at least have to have some college. Many dc providers have none.
Robin
I agree. The following info was in an article I was reading by Michele Friedman of the Coalition on Human Needs. The stats are dated, but the message is disturbing, none the less.
"Unfortunately, the quality of care provided by many providers is often inadequate. One 1995 study determined that 7 out of 10 child care centers provide mediocre care, and that one of eight are so bad that they threaten the health and safety of the children in their care.
A number of factors contribute to low child care quality. Inadequate training, low pay, and high turnover among child care providers all play a major role. Currently 39 states do not require child development training for family day care providers and 32 states do not require training at child care centers.12 On-the-job experience might compensate for this lack of formal training, but such experience is undermined by high turnover rates resulting from insufficient compensation. On average, child care teachers earn just slightly over $14,000 a year.13 Child care workers also receive minimal or no benefits and often earn no paid vacation leave. The result is an annual turnover rate which reached 27 percent among child care workers in 1997 and 39 percent for child care assistants (by contrast, the average turnover rate for public school teachers is just 6.6 percent per year).
Minimal health and safety requirements also vary greatly from state to state, and those that exist are often inadequately enforced. Such requirements include ensuring that providers have basic first aid and CPR training, that providers wash their hands before and after preparing food and washing diapers, that children are properly immunized to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, and that there are sufficient numbers of providers to ensure proper supervision."
Robin
I liked the fact that my kids went to K came home at noon, had some lunch, had some down time, and were just free to be little kids, lol.
Robin
Sabina
Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
I would have preferred that schedule. However, we got afternoon kindy and that did not work well at all. IMO, full day kindy is preferable to afternoon kindy. Can't do anything in the morning because any moring activities usually start around 10 and the bus would come to pick up at 11:15 - they had to eat lunch mega early too.
The whole year we were off kilter.
<"Unfortunately, the quality of care provided by many providers is often inadequate. One 1995 study determined that 7 out of 10 child care centers provide mediocre care, and that one of eight are so bad that they threaten the health and safety of the children in their care.">
This is exactly why I continue to assert that "good quality" child care is not the norm. IN GENERAL, who's going to take better care of my infant? A person with a high school diploma making $14,000 per year and four other children to diaper, feed, and rock to sleep? Or a mother who gives up a career for a few years to care for her small child?
Pumpkinangel implies that the norm in day care providers is a 4 year college degree in ECE making $51,000 per year--and while that is likely true for the day care director, the reality for the majority of staff working directly with the children is far, far different.
Pages