My kids had a part time nanny (two-three hours a day) for about a year, then went to inhome (four kids total) for about four hours a day for about two years, then went to a center for about eight hours a day for two years, then school. They turned out to be much better socialized than I was (relying on neighborhood bullies for companionship). The key was that we lived in a small university town and everything was easily accessible, housing was cheap, and the daycare workers had gone to the university child development program. Fathers were expected to be involved, too. It was ideal, and we were lucky. The thing is, what we had should be the model. It's now been almost thirty years since I had my first kid, and the daycare system has remained fragmented and disrorganized because of thirty years of culture wars--what are women supposed to be doing? Should poor people even be allowed to have children? Who pays? Why should corporations acknowledge that children have value? Let's not have an infrastructure of any kind, etc. As with global warning, thirty years wasted because the US is full of selfish jerks. Too bad. War is never too expensive, but raising hte next generation is.

I don't think the US is necessarily filled with Selfish jerks. I see a LOT more people who care about kids, education, the world, etc than don't care.

If the issue is really that day care workers don't get paid enough, (at least that's what I think it is), it's not that parents are not charged enough. I just calculated what my local daycare takes in weekly and what the likely weekly salaries are for the workers. There is about $7000 weekly difference. Sure, some of that is for the use of the building, equipment and food, but there's still a big profit.

I'd definitely like to see higher salaries for those who care for my child, but not from the government. I'd like to see more of the profit they make at the daycare center go to the workers.

I wanted to address the statement that there is a large profit made by childcare centers. I am not sure about the specifics of your center, but as a childcare professional and working in a center who is trying to expand due to the extreme shortage of care in my community, childcare centers largely do not make a profit. When persuing a loan for the financing of a land purchase for a new center my employer's bank accessed some national profit statistics for childcare centers and reported that the national average annual profit for childcare centers is less than $1.00. This is not a large profit. My center is one of the most expensive programs in my area and pays some of the highest wages and decent benifits. I have my B.S. in child development and I made under 20,000 last year. My employer openly shares the annual finances for our center with our families at a meeting each spring and she struggles to stay in the black.

I love my job, and not all centers are equal and you need to also consider the wide variety of educational philosophies within the field. The National Assosiation for the Education of Young Children provide an extremely extensive accreditation process. If you really want to appreciate what quality education means research some of this organization's standards and you will get a real appreciation for the need to increase support for quality programs. The community as a whole needs to start recognizing the importance of this field and support programs and families.