Last week, economist Kathryn Anne Edwards posted on LinkedIn about a “big bold idea” to create a universal child development system. I read a summary and immediately emailed her, in hopes that she would agree to an interview with me. Through this podcast I consistently encounter families who are struggling to balance work and childcare - from every angle you can imagine.
The market failure of our early childhood care system.
The struggle for quality, affordable summer programs.
The unmanageable logistics of sick days, school holidays, and those menacing early dismissals.
Before care. After care.
Increasingly costly and time intensive activities (and the carpools they require).
Kathryn proposes a system to tackle ALL OF THIS.
And get this: we can pay for it, and get started on it now. We can leverage the patchwork of systems and programs we currently have, and bring them under one roof to form a comprehensive system.
The full proposal can be found here. I am going to print it and bring it to my Congressman immediately (seriously, probably tomorrow if I can get to his office). I invite everyone reading this to do the same.
And please follow Kathryn’s newsletter and podcast. She is AMAZING!
I always knew it would be a mom who would solve this.
