One you've experienced the challenge of finding affordable and high quality child care, you begin to understand why so many families opt to have one parent stay home and care for their children. And you also appreciate the popularity of grassroots movements such as MomsRising, that champion high quality child care as one of the cornerstones of their legislative agenda.
Since I favor universal health care and higher taxation in order to create a stronger social safety net for lower and middle class families, I have often assumed that Canada would be a better place to raise children than the U.S. Apparently, when it comes to childcare, this isn't the case.
Talk to any working parent about childcare and you'll usually hear tales of woe, combined with a hopefully serviceable and happy ending involving a grandma, a nanny, an in-home family center, a daycare center, part-time parent care, or all of the above. Turns out working Canadians assemble a similar patchwork to care for their children.
Most middle income Americans and Canadians find childcare prohibitively expensive, especially once care is needed for more than one child. Of course this problem is compounded in the U.S. by lack of affordable health care and in some parts of the country a terrible paucity of quality public educational options. And, of course, the Canadian government also gives tax credits for fit children. Makes me want to sing "O, Canada" during my morning commute.
