Your ideal National child care plan?

[Admiral Beez]

What would your ideal National child care plan look like?

I've often thought it unfair that parents who stay home and care for their own kids do not receive a tax deduction, while parents that send their kids to someone else for daytime care can claim a sizable deduction for daycare.

I'd like to see a national child care program that helps parents who want to stay home with their kids while at the same time financially assisting those that can or will not.

 

[urbandreamer]

Don't have kids! Pretty simple.

 

[unimaginative2]

I support a generous maternity/paternity leave program, and then a system that provides regulated day care spots to everyone who desires one at a set, affordable rate so that parents can participate in the job market and build their careers without worrying that their children are not being cared for. I'd also like the regulated day care facilities to take into account recent research on the importance of early childhood education.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

I'd also like the regulated day care facilities to take into account recent research on the importance of early childhood education.

exactly. daycare shouldn't be just a child prison. they should be learning something useful that can benefit their future and the future of the nation. this way it will be an investment. a human has more neurons in their brain in childhood than at any other time in their life. exercising those extra neurons keeps them alive. if you don't use them, you lose them.

 

[Dichotomy]

When a woman becomes pregnant, she (and the guy who did it!) should be rounded up and shipped off to an island somewhere above the Arctic Circle ....until the kid(s) are 18, then they can be brought back.

Anyone who knowingly has children is surely not of sound mind and should, therefore, be segregated from society.

 

[doady]

Apparently, in the US, there is a proposal to give low-income women $1000 if they agree to be sterilized. Perhaps we should look into that here too.

 

[unimaginative2]

When a woman becomes pregnant, she (and the guy who did it!) should be rounded up and shipped off to an island somewhere above the Arctic Circle ....until the kid(s) are 18, then they can be brought back.

What do you do if the family in question is already up in some nowhere spot around the Arctic Circle? Bring them back down and run them for Vice President of the United States?

 

[Ahab]

What would your ideal National child care plan look like?

I've often thought it unfair that parents who stay home and care for their own kids do not receive a tax deduction, while parents that send their kids to someone else for daytime care can claim a sizable deduction for daycare.

I'd like to see a national child care program that helps parents who want to stay home with their kids while at the same time financially assisting those that can or will not.

Why is this unfair? Why should taxpayers (i.e. those who go out into the workforce to work) support parents who choose to stay home to look after their kids? Why should this be encouraged at all?

I can understand supporting maternity/parental leave until a child is a year old since this is a critical time in a child's development, but after that, why should there be any further taxpayer support for parents who choose to stay home with their children, aside from the tax credits given to all parents? I believe that studies have shown that kids thrive in good daycare programs.

The whole idea of the tax deduction is to recognize that you have to incur an expense to earn income. It recognizes that you have to pay for childcare to work and be a productive member of society. If you choose to stay home, you aren't paying any expenses and you aren't earning any income so the deduction is completely irrelevant.

Of course, I'm not suggesting that raising kids isn't work. However, when you think of the cost of daycare, that work is worth a lot less than what the average person can earn in the job market.

The bottom line is daycare is good for kids and good for the economy. Staying home, while it may be good for the kids, isn't so great for the economy and we shouldn't support it with taxpayer money. I'd love to stay home and take care of the kids, but I shouldn't expect others to pay for me to do so.

The real societal problems associated with parenting and work include the outrageous cost of daycare and the fact that the current tax deduction doesn't even come close to offsetting the full cost of daycare in Toronto. We also need workplace policies that offer greater flexiblity for parents to deal with the challenges of work and parenting (e.g. time off to take the kids to the doctor and other emergencies that come up).

 

[paraone]

I pay almost as much for daycare as I do for a mortgage. My mortgage is $1630 a month, my son's daycare is $1450 a month. Thats $3080 a month for both. Then I go visit family in montreal...... $7 a day!!

My wife and I always joke that we should just get divorced for the next 5 years, then at least we'd get subsidy.... of course we'd have to settle for a shitty daycare, cuz the good ones only allow 2-3 spots of subsidy.

 

[Ahab]

I pay almost as much for daycare as I do for a mortgage. My mortgage is $1630 a month, my son's daycare is $1450 a month. Thats $3080 a month for both. Then I go visit family in montreal...... $7 a day!!

My wife and I always joke that we should just get divorced for the next 5 years, then at least we'd get subsidy.... of course we'd have to settle for a shitty daycare, cuz the good ones only allow 2-3 spots of subsidy.

I don't think we'll see $7/day or even $20/day daycare in Toronto. I'd be happy if the government could just start by allowing parents to deduct the full cost of daycare and not just a fraction of it.

 

[paraone]

that would be nice.... instead of a chincy $100 a month.... thats 1.28 days of daycare.... oh thanks Stephen, you have my vote!

 

[Ahab]

It's actually more like one day, because that $100 is taxable!

 

[Whoaccio]

I don't think I support a national health care plan. The whole regional thing can get overplayed, but this is one area where I think you need to consider the context. If you live in, say, Cochrane day care might not be the most practical thing. A GTA health care voucher system could be a good idea. I think Hong Kong has something like this.

 

[TrickyRicky]

I'm not too familiar with this issue but I am a strong proponent of developing some kind of coordinated public architecture for childcare that provides both spaces and subsidy. Infact, I would rather money be diverted from healthcare or social assistance towards this issue. There was a piece on childcare on the Agenda on TVO recently. Two issues that I picked up from this one was how a) There is no childcare system in Canada to speak of, it is completely ad hoc and incidental b) Childcare is expensive. The working mother on the program mentioned that she spends $2800 a month on childcare at city of Toronto spaces. She is moving her kid / kids out because it is too expensive. She is working so that she doesn't loose here career prospects but actually working makes no financial sense for her as childcare costs exceed her after tax income. She found the amount the government currently provides for childcare ($100.00 month per child) such a minor gesture as to be humorous.

 

[afransen]

I think making it an extension of the education system could work.

Have half-days with qualified teachers, and the rest of the time with child care providers.