Childcare

    Guest post by Grinil Khanna with AuX Family Dynamics.     We used to have a routine. Wake up, get the kids ready, take the kids to school, hustle to work in traffic, answer to the boss, rush back home hoping the kids were doing what they had to do without getting into trouble, and run around like a chicken with its head cut off until the kids were fed and in bed. The pandemic has changed this read more…

    Promise the Children was recently interviewed by a young advocate at Gonzaga University on the topic of affordable childcare. Below are a few highlights from our conversation and our work toward making affordable childcare for all a reality.     1. How does your organization view affordable childcare? What is the impact of affordable childcare? Promise the Children supports a national investment in affordable, high-quality childcare for all children. Affordable childcare is essential for women and families, and read more…

    One of the most high impact, powerful things you can do right now is send a letter to the editor of your local paper calling on your elected leaders to do the right thing and pass a COVID relief package.     Families are hurting in this COVID economy. People continue to be out of work, struggling with child care centers and schools being closed, eviction protections going away, and cases of COVID rising. After delaying for far read more…

    Congress’s refusal to #SaveChildCare could cost mothers $64.5 billion in wages and economic activity, cost the federal government $12.2 billion in tax revenue, and set gender equity back a generation.     For months Americans have been calling on Congress to provide COVID relief funding to stabilize the child care sector. These calls have gone unanswered. This is simply unacceptable when millions are jobless, children are housing and food insecure, and child care providers are fighting to keep read more…

  Photo via Pixabay Guest post by Kristin Louis of Parenting with Kris     Parents play an extremely important role in the development of their kids at every age and stage. But keeping up with your kids’ changing needs can be difficult. As your children get older, they will need varying levels of support and guidance to develop the skills that will help them thrive as adults. While you may not be able to coddle your kids forever, you read more…

Each year, Promise the Children (PTC) focuses on a number of important advocacy issues affecting children and families. We want to know from the PTC community: which issues are most important to you? Your feedback will help set our direction and fundraising goals for 2021. Please let us know your thoughts by taking our 30-second survey below!  

  Written for Promise the Children by Lacie Martin of raisethemwell.org     Few things are more difficult or stressful than working from home when you have children. And when your children are staying home more than usual because their preschool is closed or opened at a limited capacity, it can become overwhelming if you don’t come up with a good plan and strategy. Read on for information and resources to help you make sure that your kids are well-cared-for read more…

There are lessons to learn from the shutdown of child-care this spring in Massachusetts. How can child care centers work? Massachusetts designated 10,000 “emergency” free child-care slots for eligible “essential workers,” and disabled, and/or homeless children. About 2,500 spots were used. These slots are still open to eligible parents who are returning to work. We can’t verify the reason for this lack of use, but here are some suggestions: Perhaps “essential workers” were strictly defined and too many parents were read more…

There is no national child-care system. Working parents living on or close to minimum wage cannot afford to pay for licensed child care, rent, food, and transportation. They may be lucky enough to rely on a family member, or on a small group of neighbors. But they cannot necessarily rely on the safety of whatever arrangement they are able to make. Fewer than half the population of low waged families have access to quality, licensed child care. This is especially read more…

  While volunteering in a children’s summer program, I often saw a foster child run to the teacher’s desk each day and ask if their foster parent had dropped off lunch. Lunch was never there, and the child was offered a daily peanut butter sandwich. This was humiliating because others had good food from home. One day this child brought food and shared it within the classroom. Sadly, the facilitator, not knowing the significance of this event, ordered that the read more…