THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 27, 1996 TAG: 9607270014
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 51 lines
Concerning your July 5 editorial trumpeting the licensing of day-care providers, I agree with your premise that measures designed to protect children are worthy of recognition. However, your editorial unfortunately reveals much of the public's ignorance and condescension that most child-care professionals battle daily in an effort to legitimize what should rightly be the most-valued of service organizations.
The licensing procedures and new rules you hail as ``stern reminders of the responsibility we have assumed by caring for children'' are not only fundamental to child-care professionals but should be in practice in all households with children.
Smoke detectors, balanced meals, limited television, locking away harmful products and keeping bathrooms clean are absolutely the responsibility of a child-care provider and, more important, common-sense practices of every parent.
Day-care professionals are licensed and educated not only far beyond the six hours required per year but also further their knowledge of CPR, first aid, child development, nutrition and many other subjects. Professional groups such as The DayCare Connection, The Virginia DayCare Alliance, The Planning Council and others further the skills and reputation of conscientious providers.
Many child-care professionals have degrees and are intelligent and compassionate business owners who make sincere efforts to provide their clients with receipts, daily reports sheets and IRS W-10 forms, chronicling for parents the daily activities of their children and the expenses parents write off of their taxes.
Your implication that child-care professionals are more susceptible to cheating on income taxes is an insult tantamount to accusing all workers who receive cash payments (waitresses, cabbies, bartenders, delivery drivers, etc.) of breaking the law simply because their professions compensate in cash.
While there are certainly as many uncaring, unprofessional and unscrupulous child-care providers as there are journalists, the child-care professional (as opposed to a ``baby sitter'') is and should be more carefully scrutinized by state and local regulators.
The issue here is one of accountability not only by the provider but, most important, the parents of children left in their care.
Our tendency is to regulate where public apathy and indifference begin. I agree with any effort designed to protect our children, but no regulations can or should replace the conscientiousness of parents' entrusting their child's care to an equally conscientious provider.
MICHELE COALE
Owner and director
Wee Ones
Portsmouth, July 6, 1996 by CNB