GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students regularly collects stories and data about the struggles of families with young children. So, we welcomed Maureen Downey’s coverage of a New York Times examination of the rocky entry of “pandemic babies” into elementary school.
We, too, have been studying the pandemic’s effects on our youngest children, and based on the reports shared by parents and teachers in our focus groups, The New York Times article was no surprise. Nor was the response of readers who blamed unprepared kindergartners on harried parents.
The story said, “Researchers said several aspects of the pandemic affected young children — parental stress, less exposure to people, lower preschool attendance, more time on screens and less time playing.”
There’s a nuance left out: If some kindergartners are lagging when it comes to their developmental skills and school readiness, it is, in part, because their parents are also facing post-pandemic difficulties.
So are their educators.
“If we had access to quality affordable child care, my child would be learning from his peers rather than his stressed-out dad,” an Athens mom told us in 2021. “My husband could be more seriously looking for work. He is with my son 18 hours a day while I work in the other room and has no time or energy to actively pursue a new career.”
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
A recent GEEARS-commissioned survey of Georgia parents of children ages birth to 5 found that such stressors persist. Eight in 10 respondents said they had struggled in the previous year to afford basic needs like food, housing and diapers.
This illustrates a critical point: No child exists outside the context of their family and community.
This is why GEEARS advocates for a two-generation approach to caring for our kids. You can’t bolster a system such as children’s health care, for instance, without also codifying protected leave for parents so they can take their kids to those doctor’s appointments. If parents can’t access affordable, reliable, high-quality child care, they’re less likely to be able to hold down a job and support their children.
In other words, the systems that support families also need support. GEEARS’ survey amply proved this point. Respondents of all political affiliations overwhelmingly favored various supports for families with young kids, with 94% saying we should eliminate the state sales tax on diapers and 89% reporting that they’d like to increase child care subsidies for parents with low incomes. Also, 93% wanted increased access to paid parental leave, which is why GEEARS was thrilled when our Legislature recently increased paid parental leave for state employees and K-12 teachers from three to six weeks.
This holistic, two-generation policy approach defines GEEARS’ advocacy. When working with lawmakers, our priorities include …
• Consistent and affordable access to health care for Georgia’s youngest children from families with low incomes.
• Mental health supports for both children and their families.
• Economic assistance like child care and housing aid that can provide stability.
• Paid leave to care for new babies or a sick family member.
GEEARS and our partners also recognize that we are part of the village that can support children by supporting their families. Toward that end, we’ve worked with our partners to build a statewide network of clinicians trained to treat the mental health of children and parents. We’ve supported voluntary home visiting programs that address the needs of new parents and are designed to promote better outcomes for their babies. And we’ve collected stories and data from families so that we can keep abreast of their needs and challenges, enabling us to nimbly shape our policy agenda in real time.
It was at a 2023 workshop GEEARS co-hosted for early educators that one teacher told us what she needs to give her best to her young students: “I feel that in order to boost morale and keep people in the child care setting, provide that support. Sometimes people need to hear, ‘Hey, good job,’ or ‘I see what you’re doing. I see you’re trying. I see you’re here, you’re showing up.’”
GEEARS believes we should all listen to parents and teachers of young children in this way, rather than shaming them for experiencing monumental pandemic-borne challenges.
Mindy Binderman is executive director of GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students.
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