There’s been a lot of talk about infrastructure these days - at the national level and here locally. Usually the conversation ends up talking about roads and bridges - perhaps some buses and trains get on the list - and certainly sewers, electricity grids and broadband raise some interest too. It’s pretty amazing how much it takes to create a space where businesses can grow and thrive.

But I’m most excited about having Child Care get into the conversation as a vital piece of infrastructure as well. This has been a new addition for many, but for me it goes way back.

All the way back to 6th grade in fact. That year I took a Red Cross “Babysitting” course to prepare for the arrival of a new sibling in my family. It was a class that gave me skills to not only feel more comfortable being the babysitter when my parents went out or were working, but then became one of my first paying jobs as I cared for other neighbor children. Through my high school years I learned to not only care for children, but to manage groups of children, how to offer attention, how to read expressively, and how to play! All of these skills and experiences led me to consider becoming a teacher when I was in college and provided me with the background I needed for leading after school programs and working in a child care center, before becoming a classroom teacher.

What I wasn’t aware of, was how I was supporting a local economy. Yes, some of my babysitting was so parents could go out to eat or see a show (indirectly supporting restaurants and theaters), but there were also many times in which I was caring for a child so the parent(s) could be at work. Without my work, they could not work.

As I have learned through my advocacy work with Main Street Alliance, the lack of child care can be a barrier to starting or expanding a business. This is even more true for women and people of color. Public investment in child care would mean greater stability for small businesses and our employees by allowing parents, especially women, to stay in the labor force. Expanding public investment in child care promotes greater gender and racial equity in entrepreneurship and employment.

When our first child arrived, my wife and I leaned on our child caring experiences to collaborate with two other families to create a shared child care cooperative. When it was my turn for “daddy day care” I was helping 5 other adults be at work. And because all of us were balancing full and part time jobs, the flexibility we were able to create gave us a couple years of no cost child care.

Eventually, as we found full time work and could afford more child care, we put neighbors to work in family day care homes and local child care centers to care for our two children. But the costs often felt like we were just working to pay for the time our children were in care. And yes, because I have worked at a child care center and helped for a summer at my children’s family day care home, I know that it is hard work, and often feels undervalued. That my wife has worked for many years with the state of Minnesota to raise quality of care and to support workers with better workplaces, training, and better wages, has also taught me the paradox of seeing such an essential industry treated so poorly by those in power.

It was the pandemic that brought much of this into the direct light of day. We saw that without centers and family day care homes open, it was nearly impossible for parents with children to work. As an employer, I had three staff who dropped their shifts when centers and providers closed up during the pandemic. Those staff with children who still work for me have had to rearrange schedules and scramble at times to keep work and parenting “working.”

What do I need to do as an employer to help create this care infrastructure?

I need to provide flexible scheduling that can allow parents to share care with others - partners, friends, parents.

I need to provide wages that can support paying for child care.

I need to provide PTO that allows care for children when they are ill.

I need to champion and support an increased value on service work of all kinds.

I need to be aware that child care can fall through and have systems in place to support these events.

I need to know that running a child care program or center is a business and that I can support those who run these businesses.

If I do these things, then it is left to our community’s strong support for sharing these care infrastructure costs that will create an economy that works for families of all kinds.

When I took my course in 6th grade, I was a member of a two parent family where one parent did not work, but instead cared for us children. However, within a couple years, when my father died, we became a single parent family, still with child care needs. For my mother to return to school and to join the workforce child care became a necessity.

Much has changed in society since my childhood in the 60’s. A single job doesn’t have quite the likelihood of supporting a family. Asking a woman to shoulder all child rearing duties as a “mother’s job” doesn’t feel right anymore. And if we’re honest, we see the legacy of slavery at work when we undervalue the service of raising and caring for children. We can even honor the bonding that parents and children need by offering leave times for births without devaluing the desire to be working outside of the home when we still have young children in our families. We can create a care infrastructure that provides opportunities for children to learn and grow that don’t devalue the importance of a loving family. Indeed, it is this infrastructure that provides the kinds of support that families need to be healthy, resilient and loving.

Down the path a bit, I hope to be back in the child care mode again, as a grandparent this time, but not out of necessity. I would hope that by that time there will be many affordable, high quality options available for my children to use. May we build out that infrastructure now!