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Safe in Care: A new, large-scale Yale University study shows that putting children in child care poses close to no risk of transmitting the coronavirus to adults, reports INSIDER. The study, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, confirms that child care centers are, for the most part, safe as long as sanitary guidelines are followed, reports The Los Angeles Times journalist Sonja Sharp. Researchers surveyed 57,000 child care providers across all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, for self-reported COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations, comparing staff whose programs stayed open with those whose had closed, reports NBC’s Today. It’s important that the study findings are taken in context, however, as the data was collected between May and June, when many states still had stay-at home orders in place, reports CNBC. While many centers were open during that period, enrollment was down by 67%. Still, the study “provides a very important window into a crucial topic” and was conducted with a solid methodology, said Renee Boynton-Jarrett, a professor of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine for The Wall Street Journal.
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Health Disparities: A nationwide study released by researchers at UCLA has found that health inequities can be measured in children as young as 5-years-old, with 30% of children in the lowest-income neighborhoods vulnerable in one or more areas of health development compared with 17% of children in higher-income settings, as reported by NBC Los Angeles. More than 183,000 kindergartens in 98 school districts between 2010 and 2017 were assessed using an Early Development Instrument (EDI), which measures a child’s physical, social, emotional and language development. The data found that income-related differences in developmental vulnerability varied substantially between children from different ethnic and racial groups, with Black children at the highest risk. Researchers also found that differences in developmental vulnerability were most pronounced between Black children and White children at higher socioeconomic levels, but tended to narrow for both groups at lower socioeconomic levels. “Many other studies have highlighted patterns of income and racial inequality in health and educational outcomes. What this study shows is that these patterns of inequality are clearly evident and measurable before kids start school,” said the study's lead author, Dr. Neal Halfon, director of the Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities at UCLA.
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Moms in the News: Women leaving the workforce to care for children continued to make headlines this week, after recent data showed that 865,000 American women -- four times the number of men -- dropped out of the workforce between August and September, according to a report from the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC). “Never have we seen the exodus of women from the labor force that we have seen this year,” writes Emily Martin, vice president for Education & Workplace Justice at the NWLS, in an op-ed for The Hill. And while the job loss for women may be temporary, many mothers believe having to leave the workplace will stunt their career, reports NBC's Today. One mother, in an interview with The New York Times, called mothers the, "shock absorbers of our system, and the poorer and more precarious you are, the more shock you’re expected to absorb.” In the same piece, Associate Professor of Sociology at Indiana University, Jessica Calarco, says there is past evidence that during times of employment uncertainty, heterosexual couples fall back into traditional gender roles. In their essay about the pandemic’s impact on women, researchers at the Brookings Institute point out that the pandemic has only exacerbated the many challenges that have long plagued working mothers including exorbitantly costly childcare, lack of paid leave, and the persistent expectation that mothers are the default caregiver.
Still some are calling for solutions to the “she-cession.” Facebook's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and, LeanIn.Org CEO Rachel Thomas co-wrote an op-ed for Fortune about the plight of executive-level women, saying, “it’s critical that companies double down on supporting senior-level women right now…and executive men should ask themselves: Am I doing enough to support the women at my level, especially those with more demands at home?” Nicole Mason, president of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, said in an interview with MarketWatch that she’s in favor of making child care a public good so that fewer families have to question whether their child is safe and if they can afford to work because of the cost of child care. “Child care needs to be accessible, cost-effective and high quality for families across all income levels,” said Mason about ways to bring women back into the workforce. Some companies are considering offering child care support for employees struggling to balance work and children, reports CNBC. According to data from consultancy firm Willis Towers Watson, three in 10 employers currently offer backup childcare, while another 30% plan to, or are considering, adding it.
Related article: The 74: Legislators’ View: Working Families Are in Crisis. As We Recover From COVID-19, We Must Rethink Child Care as an Economic and Public Good
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Education, Not Babysitting: “It has taken a once-in-a-lifetime crisis to reveal what was always true: School is –– whisper it –– a form of child care; child care, at its best, fosters children’s development,” writes Bryce Covert, contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. According to Covert, the United States has long drawn a distinction between K-12 education and child care. She argues that this bifurcation –– which became more stark during the pandemic as schools closed and child care remained opened –– doesn’t serve anyone. Historically, the division between child care and K-12 education began when education reformers in the 1800s insisted that children needed more formal schooling, leaving behind a system that previously sent younger children to a schoolhouse with their older siblings. A universal child care system briefly arose due to economic need between 1943 and 1946, when women had to fuel the economy during the war, but subsided post-war, furthering the idea that parent employment is the driver behind why child care exists –– not children’s development. Covert concludes that both child care and K-12 education could benefit by being brought together, by both considering the role K-12 education plays in parental employment and acknowledging that child care is important in child’s development –– something that has only recently gained more traction with academic researchers. But instead of bringing K-12 down to the level of simply being thought of as child care, child care should be raised to the level of K-12 education –– both for the benefit of working parents and children themselves.
Developmental Concerns: Without preschool, playgroups and playgrounds during the pandemic, child development experts are concerned that America’s youngest learners are missing out on critical social and learning opportunities, as reported by The New York Times. According to Patricia K. Kuhl, who co-directs the Institute for Brain and Learning Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle, group settings like day care, classrooms and playgrounds are often where adults notice that a child is having sensory, cognitive, motor or learning problems that could benefit from early intervention. Dr. Aliza A. Pressman, a developmental psychologist who creates practical tools and guidance based on neuroscience research for parents, pediatricians and teachers, worries that there will be a collective lag in academic and executive function skills as a result. Both of the researcher’s work has taken on a greater urgency during the pandemic, as they’ve rushed to innovate tools that can help mitigate these outcomes and foster executive function and emotional and social learning in kids, even outside of in-person group settings. The article highlights the benefits of programs that foster this development, such as Apple Seeds that have shifted to virtual with Songs for Seeds, a virtual interactive music program specifically for the two-years-old and under demographic. Ultimately, parents shouldn’t worry too much, the article concludes, as time at home with parents promotes secure attachment which is an important foundation for brain and language development.
Bezos Academy: Bezos Academy, a new preschool for low-income children in Des Moines, Washington, fully-funded by Amazon mogul Jeff Bezos, is on track to open October 19th reports USA Today, CNN, and Business Insider. The new Montessori-inspired school is lauded as Bezos' first significant philanthropic investment, however, with Head Start and other child care centers crumbling in Des Moines, some experts ask if the money put into Bezos Academy would have been better spent shoring up existing early education infrastructure, reports Forbes. While Bezos claims to have met with the community and explored many options before choosing to open the preschool, Forbes questions if the choice is more personal for the mogul, who himself attended a Montessori school at 2-years-old. Whatever the reason, advocates like John Burbank, executive director at the Economic Opportunity Institute point to the systemic issues impacting child care access. “He should be advocating for public financing and a tax on his own wealth to fund pre-kindergarten and preschool,” said Burbank for Forbes. “Otherwise, this is just another example of [billionaires] trying to paint a patina of goodwill on top of gross accumulation of wealth and privilege. It does not really serve the public to have these pop-up childcare centers.”
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ICYMI: In Case You Missed It, More Great Reads
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