Did you hear the story about the woman (in MI, I think) who was told not to watch her neighbors kids by the state?
They moved the bus schedule up an hour, so she offered to let the kids stay at her home in the AM so the parents could get to work on time. She gets them onto the bus and they just play together at her house until the bus comes. She did this for free.
But the state stepped in and said she is running an un-licensed day care in her home and to cease and desist. Are you kidding me? The parents are outraged that the state is basically telling them who can (or cannot) watch their children.
Isn't it sickening how ludicrous our maternity leave is in the US and at the same time it is impossible to afford to go back to work? And now this state is basically telling these parents to go pay for a licensed day care to watch their kids for an hour each day. Ridiculous.
I am not meaning this post to be anti-government but the truth is, sometimes the government agencies do not think before they react. Like this and like the story in AZ about the family who got in trouble for the bath time photos. Why does it seem like people trying to do the right thing get in trouble and those taking advantage of the system don't?
Re: S/O Daycare....
Yes, this is stupid government intervention.
but:
#1 - Paid Maternity Leave / Forcing Employers to provide "better" benefits - I am personally against this. It creates an unfair tax burden on the rest of the population.
#2 - Affordable daycare - Again, a parental/familial obligation. Not a taxpayer one.
Having children is a personal/familial decision and should not "cost" the government (aka taxpayers) additional money to provide daycare and/or maternity benefits. There are already government and taxpayer funded programs for those who live in poverty and paying just for this segment of the population is exorbitant. It is fantasy to think that just because the government is going to step in and use its police power to either a) force employers to provide better maternity benefits and/or b) subsidize or provide daycare for children with working parents that you (the citizen taxpayer) will get to "keep" your money. It will go to the government for them to decide how to spend (read: waste). Chances are neither you nor your child will receive any real benefit and you will have even LESS money for your family.
I don't know; I know that the state law for daycares in GA is that if the children are under 1 year old, the ratio of adults to children has to be 1:6 (it's 1:8 for older children, and both of those are RIDICULOUSLY high anyways). Honestly, though, some of the licensing requirements for daycares are utterly absurd.
DD- 9
DS-6
c/p- April 2016
missed m/c- 6w5d; discovered 8w2d- September 2016
Ahhhh, I see.