Over a decade ago, as a guest on the
Donahue
television show, while I was attempting to explain the concepts of
"Ten Stupid Things Women Do To Mess Up Their Lives"
(my current book at the time) to a pre-arranged hostile audience, I was inundated with bitter challenges on the issue of day care, which, interestingly, wasn't even an issue in the book.Fed up with the nonsense, I took control from Donahue (no simple task) and challenged the audience members to stand up if, after dying and coming back a second time, they would actually
choose
to be raised by a nanny, baby-sitter, or day care center. Funny thing....nobody got up.As I have pointed out numerous times here, in my book
"Stupid Things Parents Do To Mess Up Their Kids,"
and on my radio program, adults have become so self-serving that the well-being and appropriate needs of children have been ferociously ignored or dismissed. I've recently read national reports demonstrating that parents - even
before
they have children - are fighting for spots in day care centers! I figure, if they can plan that far ahead, they certainly can plan to have a parent at home, or to wait to have children until they are able and willing to do the right thing for their family.I have been thoroughly amazed at how the injuries, abuse, and deaths of children in day care centers has left many attending families angry - but angry with the authorities for closing them down! Can you imagine that?State auditors reviewing the California Department of Social Services compared the addresses of the state's licensed facilities (including foster family homes and day care centers) with the state's database of registered sex offenders, and found that the addresses of 49 sex offenders matched those of 46 child care facilities. It should go without saying that convicted sex offenders shouldn't be employed in a facility for children.Nonetheless, of the 46 address matches, 25 were in Los Angeles, 8 in the Central California Valley, 7 in the San Francisco Bay area, 4 in San Diego, and 1 each in San Bernardino and Sacramento. The verification process is under way - children are being interviewed, and some licenses are being suspended. This "match up" procedure will surely miss the folks who got jobs under assumed names just to be nearer to children.It would seem that some people go to great lengths to be close to our kids...maybe we should be holding our kids even closer.
