"Along with providing financial assistance directly to the needy families, the government should try to 'combat the scarcity' of child-care services by establishing a fund guaranteeing loans of up to $25,000 to those interested in 'developing or expanding' child-care programs." CA

"Without the government providing money, there are no benefits in becoming a child care provider. There are low wages, no liability insurance coverage and prohibitive start up costs to look forward to if one wants to become a child care provider right now." incentives ?

"As a child care aide I eventually left when I found I could earn more doing dishes than working with children." MN

"Allowing the government to be involved should allow sitters and care workers to require better pay. . ." MO

"Workers need to be paid better wages and receive higher status in order to attract more permanent help. " CA

"People who want to be teachers should work in child care facilities as part of training for minimum wage. As for janitorial duties, people wanting to be janitors should have to work in child care facilities for a year to see if they can work with young adults. For medical purposes nurses and doctors should also have to work in child care centers for a year." NY

A Dissenter Thought Childcare Might Be A Way To Get Rich . . .

"Babysitters make a plethora of money, especially if they watch more than one child." IN

More Than A Few Students Had Something To Say About Latch Key Kids . . .

"Being a latch-key kid has played a bigger part in my life than I realized. Perhaps there is a taboo on being the child of a single, working parent, but my childhood was good." (I could add or put at beginning the following): "From the time I was born, I've been to baby-sitters and day cares, and sometimes my mother took me places with her. As soon as I was old enough, about age seven, I became a latch key kid, which was dangerous at times. I remember one place we lived where my next door neighbor was a drug dealer, a lady across the street drowned her three children in a lake, and a boy down the street was accident-alley shot." NE

"I'm in a group home for kids with problems and have been for five years. I had a lot of problems because of poor child care . . .With good child care from the state of Missouri's Division of Family Services, I have become a responsible, outgoing young lady and I owe my thanks. The only thing I wish for was that all children were treated as well as I have been." MO

"Mothers have helped each other out for centuries; however, as society develops, more and more wormen have discovered that combining strengths and uniting forces is their only hope of survival. In order to prevent having a 'latch-key' child, in which a child comes home from school to an empty home, many parents allow their kids to go over to a friend's home after school until a parent returns from work. Neighboring families carpool, take turns babysitting and share many responsibilities; unfortunately, this is not always possible." TN

"Latchkey kids need to have their own set of survival standards. With the (object) of getting a parent's attention, kids have learned to set up dates three months in advance. They have also thought of ways to send affection. For example, sending notes to the office, or sticking it to the coffee pot are two ways of grabbing the attention of a parent." WI

Many Students Had Something To Say About Kids In General . . .

"Children are pieces of white fabric. They are innocent and easy to be strained or to be dyed to another color. If these fabrics were dyed creatively, they would become precious, but if not, they would become no different from a rag." CT

"Children are the characters in fairy tales, the bounce in a ball, the spring of a trampoline, the energy in us all. The faces of the young bring truth and promise, security and love." NJ

"Our government's job is not to replace parents or parents' rights but rather to encourage and assist where possible. Children need their parents to be their advocates in a very hostile world for Joseph Joubert once said, "Children have more need of models than of critics.' When on eor more parent cannot be there, someone has to care. Someone has to continue to ask the question, 'What is best for the children?'"OH

"When people spend a long time with someone, whether it is their child or not, they get on each other's nerves. Children are not always the quietest of people. They enjoy good times and they want to let the world know when they are having that good time. The person closest to the child who looks like they care will be told every little detail of the latest event." MI

"Our children are one day going to be running this country, and we expect them to solve the problems we have created. It is up to us, though, to provide the children with the background to achieve their goals." OH

"In the twenty-first century, we will be faced with adults who experienced 'hot potato' emotional attachments during childhood as they were bounced from one care-giver to another. These adults will be our business and political leaders with far-reaching power. William R. Wallace, a nineteenth century lawyer and poet, wrote, 'The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.' A strong nation begins in the home, and decisions that affect the entire world will be made by the products of today's child care." AR

"Every child is important and hopefully the government will recognize that." ID

Most Students Had A Good Word To Say About Moms Whether Working In Or Out Of The Home . . .

"Studies have shown that if a parent is happy with what they are doing whether it's staying home with their child or working in the next town, that a happy parent is a good parent, and therefore the child will most probably grow up to be a productive adult in American society." NM

"Some parents value money, others value a stable home life. Some parents want to bring their children up so they appreciate money and hard work. There is nothing wrong with that. But, other parents want to work so that their children can have the luxuries that the parents did not get as a child. There is nothing wrong with that either, if the parents still discipline their children. Whether or not the mother works is not the main problem. It really does not matter, as long as the children are brought up to appreciate values, generosity, learn to work for what they want, and to care for others."WI

"In either of the positions being at home or out in society's work force we can applaud the mothers who do work and try to make a better life for themselves and their families." NE