Press Release:  The Critical Importance of Parental Nurturing April 2002

For more information, contact: Susan DeRitis 703-866-4164 media@FamilyAndHome.org

FAIRFAX, VA - Caring for children is not a women's issue, or a feminist issue or an employment issue - it's an issue critically important to all people - it is our very future. It is time to focus on children's needs for generous amounts of nurturing, and time to recognize that parents are children's primary nurturers from infancy through the teen years. Since its founding in 1984, the grassroots nonprofit organization Mothers At Home has been supporting parents who care for their own children. This Mother's Day, it is pleased to announce its new name: Family and Home Network.

Family and Home Network will continue to support and advocate for at-home mothers, and with its new name is acknowledging its focus on the needs of children and strengthening its efforts to be inclusive of all parents who spend generous amounts of time with their children. In addition, Family and Home Network wants to acknowledge the often-overlooked contributions of parents who are employed full-time in order to make it possible for their children to have an at-home parent - these couples share a deep commitment to their children as well as respect for each others' work.

There are many creative and courageous ways couples as well as single parents fulfill income-earning and caregiving responsibilities so they can maximize the amount of time their children spend in parental care. These include at-home mothers and fathers, parents who work part-time, those who work different shifts (tag team parents) and those with home-based businesses. All of these parents deserve support equivalent to that offered parents who use paid child care - support offered by federal and state governments as well as employers in the form of information and financial subsidies for the care of children.

"it's time to recognize that ‘quality child care' is provided every day by parents - discussions of how government and businesses can support families must include the needs of those who do not pay others to care for their children," says Cathy Myers, Executive Director of Family and Home Network. "With understanding and flexibility, support can be provided to all parents, regardless of their child care choices. We must transform the discussion from the superficial debates invoking ‘Mommy Wars' scenarios to mature, thoughtful examinations of how to help all families. It's time to figure out how to make support for families free of the bias which until now has made assistance available almost exclusively to those who pay for child care."

Millions of families from a wide range of income levels, political outlooks, educational levels, races, religions and cultural backgrounds know that it's possible and deeply rewarding to care for their own children. A recent poll by the nonpartisan research organization Public Agenda reports that the majority of parents believe the best care for children is parental care. More families will act on their convictions when they have reliable information. Countless professionals who work with children from infancy through the teen years are urging parents to spend more time with their children. They believe that too many of today's children suffer from a deficit of parental time, attention and loving guidance, and some have issued eloquent messages of concern about children's unmet needs.

In the mid-1990s, at a White House Conference on Infant and Child Development, the president asked the panel of experts: What specific types of experiences are most important and how much of each of them is necessary? Two of our nation's most distinguished doctors, pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton, M.D. and child psychiatrist Stanley I. Greenspan, M.D., have answered. In their recent book, "The Irreducible Needs of Children" (Perseus Books 2000) the doctors state: "We do not recommend full-time day care, 30 or more hours of care by nonparents, for infants and toddlers if the parents are able to provide high-quality care themselves and if the parents have reasonable options." They note that only 10% or less of infants and toddlers have access to high quality day care. They make recommendations for sweeping changes which could improve day care, but also caution: "….we believe that in the first two years of life full-time day care is a difficult context in which to provide the ongoing, nurturing care by one or a few caregivers that the child requires." And they add, "…studies of the quality of available day care are not optimistic. We may be trying to rationalize a system that simply isn't providing the essentials of what children need. It may therefore be best to reconsider our assumptions. The best way these assumptions can be reconsidered is by each and every family having good and accurate information. With this awareness we believe most will make a wise and enlightened choice."

Family and Home Network publishes the monthly journal Welcome Home for parents who have made the choice - or want to make the choice - to spend generous amounts of time with their children, from birth through the teen years. In Welcome Home readers find real families who are making real time for their children - and finding real joy. Providing a refuge from our culture's pervasive messages of consumerism, Welcome Home is advertisement-free and provides:

insightful personal stories, both serious and humorous, written by parents who share their experiences, thoughts, and feelings in a spirit of community and camaraderie;

empowering information for and about real families, including resource reviews, health information, and affordability studies profiling families across a range of incomes;

reports on the work of researchers and other professionals regarding the power and importance of parent time for children from infancy through the teen years;

analyses of economic proposals and public policies regarding the care of children, and opportunities to participate in cultural and media critiques.

Family and Home Network works to ensure that support for families does not discriminate based on child care choices. Parents must have access to reliable information about their children's needs, and support must be extended to families who want to increase the amount of time their children spend in nurturing parental care.

Family and Home Network Our Vision: Universal recognition of the critical importance of parents' emotional engagement with their children; societal support for the need of parents and children to spend generous amounts of time together; profound respect for parents who make these commitments and acknowledgement of the short- and long-term benefits to society. Our Mission: Advocate for parents and children of all ages concerning their need for generous amounts of time together; Affirm the choice to be home through the many stages of parenthood to nurture children of all ages; Provide parent-to-parent support, education and networking; Correct society's misconceptions and refute stereotypes about parenting; Encourage respect for the contributions made by each parent, as couples share decisions regarding nurturing and providing for their families; Empower all parents to preserve and improve the opportunity to forgo or cut back on paid employment; and Educate society about the benefits of parents and children being emotionally engaged and spending generous amounts of time together.

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