children going over the child care “cliff”

As federal dollars supporting child care during the pandemic dry up at the end of September, we are all watching, noting and bemoaning the serious impact it will have on employers, parents, child care businesses and teachers. Yet, woe is the society that treats its families as financial commodities only. There are children in there – who learned to say goodbye to Mommy and Daddy every morning by connecting with Miss Mary, or Kashama or Claudia (all real teachers I know). But those children who will see teachers leave because of this event are set to suffer disruptions in one or more of their primary relationships. We like to think kids are resilient (and of course many are by nature or in the right circumstances), but breaks, especially abrupt ones, in the relationships that are the building blocks of trust and interactions, erode and complicate young children’s sense of safety and predictability in the world. We grown ups complain about change and stress, but its a biological event and it effects early brain development (see https://developingchild.harvard.edu/) if you need convincing.

The reason that the adults in child care are worthy of professional wages and compensation is that their skills and knowledge about this important relationship have a profound effect on young children. But when predictable, kind adults disappear abruptly, it sends a biological message to the brain and influences responses and other relationships. Efforts to mitigate that will help – other familiar teachers, visits, talking about it. But the continued callousness and self-centered attitudes of our society and government will impact young children – who will become adolescents – and eventually just and trusted adults (or not).