I was packing my lunch this morning and couldn’t decide between a banana and a nectarine. The nectarine is sweet, juicy and only great in the summer months. Sure you can get it all the time it just isn’t the same in January as it is in July. I am very particular about my bananas too, not too green not too yellow, no spots, just ripened from green to yellow, perfect. Another summer dilemma perfect bananas don’t come too often in the summer because of the heat, they ripen too quickly. Can you guess what I did? If you guessed I packed both; you are a winner!
What does my lunch choice have to do with child care quality versus more child care? Simple, it isn’t an “either/or”, it is a “both/and”. If you asked me to choose between improving the quality of the current child care settings across Michigan and increasing the number of child care settings across Michigan I wouldn’t choose. For me it is the same as the banana and the nectarine.
Supporting child care and early learning professionals with quality improvement means the children in current child care settings would receive higher quality care and be exposed to learning experiences enriching their development. Increasing the availability of child care settings means families have more choices, and families need choices. I won’t choose; Michigan needs both.
Michigan needs more options for families when it comes to child care. More options that offer high quality learning experiences that support children to develop to their full potential. More children with high quality learning experiences result in more children ready to enter kindergarten. More children ready to enter kindergarten result in more children able to read in third grade. More children able to read in third grade result in more high school graduates. More high school graduates result in a stronger workforce for Michigan. Stronger Michigan, stronger economy.
Michigan needs both, high quality child care and more high quality child care settings. The banana and the nectarine; I how can I incorporate the watermelon tomorrow? Fruit salad anyone?
To find current licensed child care and preschool visit Great Start CONNECT.
Timothy J. Bartik
Jenny Salesa
Karen Roback
Jeremy Reuter
Andrew Heller
Alissa Parks
Bryn Fortune
Joan Blough
Marissa Zamudio
Deb Weatherston, PhD