May is Child Care Month

Did you know that May is Child Care month in the province of British Columbia?

As we are in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, we have learned how essential child care is to our world and how interdependent we are on one another. At the University of British Columbia, medical students who are not yet fully trained are choosing to provide child care for health care workers in order to help out. Some child care centres have remained open, accepting only children of essential workers. Some centres have been forced to close due to the fact that many children are staying home with their families.

If you are looking for child care, it can be quite challenging to find a space in our province. Parents need to get their children on wait lists and be willing to consider different arrangements or driving to less convenient areas of the city. Child Care centres have trouble finding qualified staff because of shortages in the workforce. Retention of child care staff is also an ongoing challenge.

Now that we can see how essential a universal child care service is to our world, I hope that more citizens will ask questions of our government representatives and hold them accountable for working towards solutions that will be help everyone concerned. Add your voice to advocate for a better system. Our government needs to do better. Even if you do not have a child, it impacts you if and when you require medical services from a health professional whose ability to work is compromised due to inability to access child care services. It impacts our entire economy as it supports the workforce. Universal Child Care benefits everyone, in fact it improves our Health Care System by strengthening the work force. If we’ve learned anything from the fight against COVID-19, it is this: we’re all in this together.

Sign up for my newsletter and learn about release dates, pre-orders and free offers.

Thank you for stopping by my blog. You are welcome here any time!