Posted on January 25, 2012 |
Child care got favorable and somewhat unexpected mentions on Tuesday from two conservative-leaning commentators—co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe and former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough and New York Times columnist David Brooks.
During a segment about the best companies to work for, Scarborough brought up—without prompting—the benefits for employees when companies provide on-site child care. Scarborough talked about how reassuring it can be for parents to know that their children are well cared-for while they work, and close enough to visit anytime during the day. He is certainly correct about how valuable on-site child care can be. Unfortunately, it is not an option for most parents. Many parents work for employers that are too small to support an on-site center. Many parents also work multiple part-time jobs and would not find it practical to move their child from one place to another as they moved from job to job throughout the day. And, as Scarborough’s co-host Mika Brzezinski points out, on-site child care may not be convenient for parents with school-age children, since they would need to find a way to get their children from school in the middle of the day.
But if employers cannot offer child care on site or doing so would not meet their employees’ needs, they can support child care in other ways. Read more »
