Child Care vs Elder Care Revisited

07/02/2008

Child Care vs Elder Care Revisited

You will face many defeats in life, but never let yourself be defeated.
Maya Angelou

ExchangeEveryDay for June 20, 2008 raised quite a stir. In the story for that day, Moncrief Cochran describes a scenario where the graying of America could impact the early childhood field. Among the 13 responses to the story was the following one from Susan Starrfield of Snohomish County Human Services in Everett, Washington:

"I find it very troubling that this article is set to ignite a generational war. Instead of seeing it as an "us versus them", I think a better approach is to work towards universal health care and preventive services at all age levels. It also posits older adults as being a drain on the economy, when in fact, they provide a potentially huge economic boon to the economy.

"Older adults are continuing to work past what was considered 'retirement age' for the last generation — this puts a huge amount of extra dollars into the public pot via income taxes. Furthermore, this generation owns the majority of businesses in this country — they are the cornerstones of our economic vitality. Add into this the huge contribution of older adults in the civic arena via volunteerism. Who is picking up the slack and caring for grandchildren when parents either can't or won't parent effectively? Who do you think is going to spend time mentoring and tutoring our youngsters in the future? Who will be doing fundraising for a wide variety of causes, including those targeted to young children?

"I don't see it as a pie that is continually cut into smaller pieces. I think we need to rethink our national priorities and together make a bigger, better pie/social net for all of our vulnerable citizens."

View the story from June 20 and view all 13 responses.

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