March 28, 2024

Column: Action and Reaction

Full confession from a science geek — I never took physics in high school or college. Every time it came up on the class registration forms I avoided the course due to some irrational fear. But I’ve always had a fascination with the physical word.

I took this curiosity up a notch when I was 5 years old using a little red wagon full or dry leaves and a magnifying glass. I was almost always a good kid, but when I was around my babysitter Marianne’s grandson Matthew, he brought out my inner troublemaker.

We angled the magnifying glass between the sun and leaves perfectly and waited in Marianne’s backyard. A small stream of smoke quickly became a fully engulfed Radio Flyer Wagon. Like someone with a sixth sense for mischievous kids, Marianne burst out the back door, picked up the garden hose and doused the flames along with Matthew and myself.

Talk about cause and effect.

Marianne was a saint to put up with us. I don’t know what she charged my parents to take care of my rambunctious little behind, but I have an idea of my parent’s salaries in the early 1990s. I’m sure it was an almost a pro-bono arrangement.

Navigating the financial realities of everyday life is a lot like physics. Every bill you pay has an equal and opposite reaction on your checking account, and that reaction makes a wallet feel almost weightless when you’re paying $500, $800 or even $1,200 per month on childcare.

Some two-parent households make the decision to have dad or mom to stay home with the kids instead of working 40 hours per week, being away their children and handing over half or nearly all of their paycheck to a daycare center or private provider.

Being a stay-at-home mom or dad is noble and a choice which can only be made be each family when examining their unique circumstance. For some families it’s an ultimate goal. But for others, it’s a necessary reality.

The United States is one of the only modernized nations in world which does not have paid family leave as a right to all citizens, and we do little to offer childcare assistance to single moms or working families struggling to make it. Some workplaces offer childcare and paid leave for new parents as a benefit, but those working low paying or part-time jobs are not as fortunate.

In recent days, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has began talking about the expensive nature of childcare in the U.S., breaking from the norms of his party. His opponent, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton’s platform, has also promoted paid family leave and childcare assistance.

Trump’s proposal is an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit, which amounts to approximately $1,200 per year for families and combined with six weeks of paid leave for women. It doesn’t come close to solving the financial burdens of working families.

Clinton’s plan goes farther with a combination of subsidies, tax credits and 12 weeks paid family leave for both mothers and fathers. It does more to help but is still not perfect. As a man who plans to one day have kids, I hope paid leave is an option for me when we start a family.

While both plans have flaws, but at least the major party presidential candidates are finally talking about childcare costs on a national stage — for the first time in my memory.

Staying home with a child or being a parent in the workforce should not be a forced choice in the U.S. Giving parents the power to choose how their children are raised will only reduce burdens, increase economic productivity and sustain happiness in our households. It’s simple physics.

Contact Mike Mendenhall
at mmendenhall@newtondailynews.com