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What could Universal Early Childcare look like?
- ta8645 3y agoIt could look a lot like a nuclear family. With a healthy economy that doesn't require both parents to work.
- oh_sigh 3y agoSo basically one person, usually the woman, gets to not have a personal life.
- everdrive 3y agoMy wife is a homemaker (and soon to be mother) -- and trust me, she's got a much bigger personal life than I do. I'm not nearly as good at socializing as she is, and it shows. A job is definitely not required for a personal life.
- oh_sigh 3y agoI agree it isn't required, but providing full-time child care prevents you from doing a lot of things. If you consider "personal life" to be "socializing with other moms", then yes you can have a personal life. But that is not everyone's dream of a personal life.
- NoZebra120vClip 3y agoTry looking up "homeschool field trips"
- gedy 3y agoNo, I think it's us folks farting in office chairs with headphones on that don't have a personal life.
- wernercd 3y agoWhy not? It's worked throughout history. Men and women working together to make the world a better place.
- anon291 3y agoOh man... my wife and her friends see each other practically every day with the kids. They practically live together half the time. Whereas I see my friends (her friend's husbands usually) like once a week / maybe twice if i'm lucky. I have no idea where this idea has come from that stay at home moms are stuck at home. Most of the time they are out chatting, eating lunch at each other's houses, or doing something fun together
- xwdv 3y agoIt’s because people at work typically aren’t out and about during the day seeing moms going out and socializing with other moms. They’re stuck at work. These moms live rich fulfilling lives.
- oh_sigh 3y agoI see "personal life" as much larger than "childcare with friends". Can your wife go mountain biking? Can she attend a lecture that coincides with nap time? Can she delve into a tough book?
- zdragnar 3y agoFriends and family can help watch the kids- taking a bit of personal time is important too. Those things are all easier to do as a stay at home parent than if both parents are working, because then you end up dedicating all of your non-work hours to family, chores and errands anyway.
- sudobash1 3y ago> Can your wife go mountain biking? This seems a silly question. During the workday, neither spouse can go mountain biking. Outside of the workday both spouses can go mountain biking. This is true whether one or both spouses are wage-earners.
- DoreenMichele 3y agoHumorously, cycling with a child safety seat was absolutely something I did on a mountain bike while I was a full-time mom with small kids. I did it until I was like 8 months pregnant with my second child and my belly was too big for me to get on a mountain bike with child seat attached.
- itake 3y agoMy sister (a new mom) is loving the community Mom's groups bring to her life. She admitted to me that if it wasn't for the FANGA money, she prefers to be a stay-at-home mom.
- googlryas 3y agoMight be true, but it is also an easy thing to say when it is still new
- VoodooJuJu 3y agoI know that corporate-sponsored media would have you believe your work acquaintances are your family and your one true source of friends, but it's just not the case, and if you drink that kool-aid, ultimately it's you and your children who lose.
- googlryas 3y agoNo, it's just that child care doesn't turn off at a set time like most jobs do. Your schedule might be 6am-8pm, with multiple periods in the early morning while you're up. I say this as a person who has been both a full time programmer and a full time care giver. Being the care giver was far more frazzling and non stop compared to my job. I found it far easier to pursue personal interests when I was working full-time compared to parenting full-time. Pretty much my only time without a kid in my life would be late at night, and even then you need to stay in the house to watch them, and you may be too tired and sleep deprived to actually be able to pursue an interest if it is pursuable in your own home.
- anon291 3y agoAs a father who works and husband to a stay at home wife, my work also never stops. After I do my full work day, I come home and... take care of the kids.
- dudul 3y agoMy wife is a mom full time by choice - and because we can afford ot. She goes to play dates, she gives yoga lessons, is part of a bookclub, etc. Tired of the old "no life for the caregiver" trope. If I had a choice, between slaving away to enrich y rich CEO or take care of my kids my choice would be easy.
- DoreenMichele 3y agoI'm a former homemaker. What the woman gets is nothing but a personal life. It's not necessarily a problem if she has married well, they plan well for her financial comfort after he is gone and they remain together "until death do us part." It's primarily a problem if they divorce and now she needs to somehow launch a career from scratch. Those years spent raising kids don't tend to readily translate to a good resume and high salary.
- oh_sigh 3y agoThere are a whole slew of activities that you cannot do if you're providing full-time childcare, especially for, say, under 5 year olds who aren't in school yet.
- DoreenMichele 3y agoYou can say the same thing about working full-time at any job. But you want to list a few for me so we can actually discuss this instead of you just dismissing my opinion as if 'nuh-uh' is a meaningful rebuttal?
- googlryas 3y agoWell, I've done both, and I've found parenting harder. I guess that's just my take. Were you raising children or just "homemaking", which doesn't necessarily imply childcare? You really can't think of any activities/interest people pursue that you can't do while toting a 2 year old with you? That's something I didn't think would require enumerating.
- DoreenMichele 3y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37128205 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37128205
- googlryas 3y agoWell, that seems extremely reckless, but good job on not crashing and severely injuring your children I guess. Maybe we're thinking of different types of mountain biking. And this is also a reason why listing specifics is a fools errand(which makes me a fool), because in the multitude there will always be someone who said "actually I did that and everything turned out fine". I smoked crack while pregnant, and my kid went to Harvard. See, no issues there.
- asow92 3y agoThis just isn't true, that is unless, you've been tricked into tying up your personal identity with your job? When my wife and I had our son everything became clear and we realized that success at work was just a means to an end.
- oh_sigh 3y agoNope, just the opposite. I don't like the concept of making work friends and keep a strict separation between the two. I was talking about the ability for the "primary caretaker" to pursue their own interests, many of which are precluded by the act of fulltime childcare
- asow92 3y agoDo you have a kid?
- googlryas 3y agoPosting on another account because I'm rate limited. Sorry dang. Yes, actually, a 3 year old and a 1 year old.
- asow92 3y agoI guess I'm confused about what you're after here. Are you suggesting that the primary caregiver should be able to lean more on an increased amount subsidized daycare in order to pursue a personal life by working instead of staying home with the kid full-time? You still have your kids after daycare is over, so it's not like you can get out of that part of caretaking to pursue "personal interests" fully. What about parenting in such a way that you involve your kids in your personal interests? You can definitely dig into tough book or go mountain biking with your kids with enough patients and proper equipment.
- sudobash1 3y agoUnless one is pursuing one's own interests on company time, I don't see how being the parent with a career makes it any easier to pursue personal interests.
- anon291 3y agoFor many people, it's a choice to work. We're part of a very close knit church in which there is a wide range of incomes and everyone makes it work. That's because the moms (it's usually the moms who are not working although there are a few dads) make it a point to actually organize the community. That means lots of shared activities; lots of shared child care; shared meals; etc. Unfortunately, when you stop doing the work of community, everything becomes more expensive. That's the ultimate reason why day care et al is so expensive. It's not just that you have to pay others to watch your children; it's that you have to pay one set of people to watch your children, then another set to cook your food, then another set to be part of a community, etc. As a case in point, my daughters attend a free mom's preschool (a few times a week) instead of us paying thousands of dollars. We haven't bought much clothes or furniture for them because there are endless amounts of hand-me-downs. Unfortunately, as a whole, American civil institutions (and really worldwide) have declined. It's not just churches or marriage that has seen record reductions in membership. It's actually not even a crisis in religion that we're witnessing although many want to castigate it as that. Rather, all social groups are in decline, whether that be the small social group of marriage, or the large social group of the extended family, or the even wider social group of a community club. Bowling clubs, fraternal organizations, athletic clubs, etc are all in decline.
- CreRecombinase 3y agoHow might one go about making the nuclear family a universal?
- voz_ 3y agoAt one point, I was bombarded by this topic. Reddit, NPR, Twitter, every single voice left leaning voice was beating this drum. Why? We didn’t accomplish universal healthcare, women’s rights are under attack, climate change is unaddressed, nazis are growing in boldness and volume. We, in the left, have failed in most of our latest crusades (certainly the ones in my life) because the regressive powers are entrenched and organized. Is this really the time to change focus again??
- wernercd 3y agoThe problem is you think the left isn't full of regressive powers. You, in the left, have failed because you're guilty of what you claim others are doing and do so while calling anyone you disagree with "nazi's" and "racists". making those "slurs" worth less than the promises you're failing to kill us all with.
- voz_ 3y agoIf you think nazi and racist is a slur, and not a label, you’re a moron. There’s people waving nazi flags and saying racist things towards Jews, Asians, African Americans, and others, what should we call these people?
- s1artibartfast 3y agoIf I were to call you a nazi, would that be a label or a slur? Both are true: Real Nazis exist and the word is grossly overused as a slur
- dudul 3y agoI like that you used the word "crusades". Says a lot about how some people on the left view themselves.
- hammock 3y agoIf it looks anything like government and union-run public schools, not good. For example, Chicago public school teachers get paid more than any other school system in the US (from $60k for a new teacher to $114k for the most experienced) and the schools have some of, if not the worst educational outcomes: in 2019, 1 in 4 7th graders could not read at grade level
- osigurdson 3y agoAgree. Give governments money, get less back now with strings attached.
- wernercd 3y ago[flagged]
- treetoppin 3y agoIt’s shocking how much this gets thrown around, yet there are countless people who are alive only because someone from the government showed up to help. A democratic government is no more or less corrupt then the people they serve.
- wernercd 3y agoThe government does help... I have been helped by the government at times in my life. But. That doesn't negate my stance that everything they touch becomes worse, more expensive and we all suffer. Healthcare? Some people are saved. Healthcare has never been more expensive and the unACA was passed on lie - like your plan, lie - keep your doctor, lie - save $2500/year, etc. Childcare? They help a handful of people making it more expensive for everyone else. Lockdowns? Mask mandates? The largest source of disinformation during the COVID "pandemic" was the US Government led by Fauci who has publicly admitted he made up statistics about stuff like "herd immunity" based on polling. Oh, big tech suppressed truth that went against narrative. Pick any topic and you'll find that while yes, the government does help some people some times... on aggregate? the larger and more powerful and the more interference that comes from government the worse we are. I'm a centrist and a realist. We won't exist without government. but only an idiot gives the government more power than ABSOLUTELY necessary and all you have to do is look around to see MOUNTAINS of evidence to that simple truth. or, as you say, "a government is no more or less corrupt than the people they serve". Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. the people they server are corrupted by power... why would government be any different?
- s1artibartfast 3y agoIt could look like deregulation of child care and simplification of small business registration. It could look like a young child income tax credit
- ldehaan 3y ago[dead]