Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just don't know why it's society's problem, or why it needs a government solution. You had the kids. Their care is your responsibility. "Parents" relying on others to raise their family needs to stop.

Large families (I’m talking people with 3 or more kids) specifically kept popping out these babies thinking someone else would take care of them for 18 years.

I’m glad America is waking up to how stupid this is and parents continually complaining about taking care of their own kids are getting no sympathy for a reason.

While I agree that people with large families should take responsibility for their kids, it is actually society’s responsibility to ensure we have educated citizens. Up until now people could expect their kids to go to public schools. I probably would have thought twice about having kids if there was no public school option.

Teacher with kids here.

Terrible analogy alert:

I am a dog mom, too.
When I was solo parenting (DH was deployed) some stuff was harder. I ordered more pizzas. A friend helped me shop. I hired a dog walker. My older kid used Uber a lot.
All of this was "on me". I HAD the kids. I adopted the dog. I was hungry for pizza and lacked the bandwidth to defrost chicken in time.


The dogs were better behaved when they had a dog walker.

In the fall, if I am in the classroom full-time (a possibility), who takes care of my dogs? Should doggy care be free?
When I bring them to the vet, it is a drop off situation, and I pick them up when I am called. Should the vet keep my dog all day so I don't have to worry about them eating my shoes or pooping in the wrong place?

Of course not.

Schools are for learning. By default, they have become the place where children spend the day. Our society has evolved into 2-income households and single parent households because we are used to our kids being so busy from 8-4 that it makes sense to earn money. We don't have to sit around all day and beat the rugs or make bread from scratch so working is productive.

We also are used to many luxuries that were not part of the "bills" 50 years ago, like smart phones, wifi, cable, travel soccer, a 2nd car....

It seems like people expect teachers to put their health at risk so other families can have more money.

FWIW, I have HAD Covid. I got it from a child whose parent did not enforce mask use.
It was three weeks in bed, in total isolation, with some after effects. My children got it too.

It is mean to expect a sub-set of adults who trained to, for example, teach HS Geometry, to perform a secondary service, keep your kids busy and safe for 8 hours, during a pandemic so others can have more things, in my opinion, when that task could be done online.

Daycare is different, and is another service.
If people want to open camps this fall, good for you.
Maybe they can staff them with people who already have had Covid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We can only even have this argument because technology allows for "distance learning". A few decades ago, schools would just have closed, and then they wouldn't have been providing education OR child care. Before now, the child care and education were inseparable because kids had to be in person to do it.

Right, and I think that's clouding the discussion. I have an incoming kindergartener who can't read. (We're working on it, he knows some sight words and is getting better at sounding them out, but he isn't a comfortable, fluent, independent reader.) I'm frankly quite skeptical that they ARE separable. I suspect the parents or whoever is doing the childcare will also be doing an equal amount of the education as the teacher, if not more. I suspect kids will not learn as much if they have working parents, which would indicate that education is not something you can deliver at arm's reach. These are just my suspicions. I'd like to be wrong.

Then teach your kid to read like the rest of us did. You still need to supplement at home.

I'm working on it, thanks. My point in mentioning that was that my kid can't even do the first step in DL on his own, which is read the schedule. This is going to take intensive parental involvement. Did you "supplement at home" by leaving your workplace, showing up at your kid's school, finding the right workbook, and turning to the right page for every lesson, every day? Supplementing at home is practicing sounding out words after school and work. This is not the same at all and you're being totally disingenuous.

Yes it takes intensive parental involvement but most people do. Would I do that, absolutely and I did. My child ended up with SN and I ended up quitting to make sure he got to daily (sometimes multiple times a day therapies) and we did tons of supplementing at home. My husband took off on days I could not do it and he now does the main part of DL making sure the kids are on, supplementing things like math (beyond me at this point) and much more. We taught are kids to read and have always supplemented math heavily to keep them on track. But, the difference between you and us is we are heavily involved parents and our kids needs come first. Supplementing at home is teaching your kids to read and basic math, not 5 minutes before bed of sounding out words while you tuck them in. You make it work or you hire someone.

Wow, this is mean. I'm sorry you have had to quit your job due to helping with SN stuff. I have an autistic sibling and my mom had to do the same. It was very very intense. I respect it a lot.

However, SN is not the standard situation. Most parents do not stop working to get their kids through elementary school. Most kids do not require one on one attention throughout the standard school day. For instance, my other sibling with ADHD and I with no SN got help from our parents after school when we needed it, which did not constitute 4-6 hours a day at any point, and definitely not in kindergarten. I think if that is your bar for "heavily involved," and you think 5 year olds are behind if they are not independently reading far beyond grade level before kindergarten, then yes, all dual income households have bad parents who don't care about their kids, don't consider their kids' needs to be a priority, and should be pushing their kids much harder. I still think it's unreasonable to expect that ALL parents of school aged children should either quit their jobs or somehow find the money for private household help. If that's the expectation why even have public schools?

I'm not sorry at all for quitting my job. I love being home and my child is doing well so it was all worth it. I wouldn't have otherwise and my life is much better for it. I had no idea how much joy being home would bring me. Dual income families in your situation can probably afford child care but made life choices to spend their money on houses, cars and other things so there isn't much extra money in the budget now for child care. We live way under our means so if we had to pay for child care now we could have. You need to teach your 5 year old to read. It has nothing to do with working or not, its a basic parenting task. And, school is no longer free child care. You've had since March to figure it out. Public school is to educate but parents also need to be involved and not just hand their kids off to school and let the school deal with it. Public schools are still educating but from now on that education will be different. So, now you need to rearrange your lives and figure it out. One parent may need to stay home or get a more flexible job or hire child care.

NP
I feel bad for your situation but it's quite clear you have some underlying resentment towards your situation at home (which is not the same as having NT kids who by and large learn independently at school), heavily tinting your outlook on the current situation.

I hope what this pandemic teaches all of us is that parents need to taught how to actually parent. So many people have absolutely no idea how to do this, and so "parenting" becomes a responsibility of schools.

School isn't childcare, because if it were, it does a pretty horrible job of it. We all know how so many kids are bullied, disengaged, lose their self-confidence, are bored, and generally have a horrible experience in school. Is that really the type of childcare parents want their kids to have?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We can only even have this argument because technology allows for "distance learning". A few decades ago, schools would just have closed, and then they wouldn't have been providing education OR child care. Before now, the child care and education were inseparable because kids had to be in person to do it.

Right, and I think that's clouding the discussion. I have an incoming kindergartener who can't read. (We're working on it, he knows some sight words and is getting better at sounding them out, but he isn't a comfortable, fluent, independent reader.) I'm frankly quite skeptical that they ARE separable. I suspect the parents or whoever is doing the childcare will also be doing an equal amount of the education as the teacher, if not more. I suspect kids will not learn as much if they have working parents, which would indicate that education is not something you can deliver at arm's reach. These are just my suspicions. I'd like to be wrong.

Then teach your kid to read like the rest of us did. You still need to supplement at home.

I'm working on it, thanks. My point in mentioning that was that my kid can't even do the first step in DL on his own, which is read the schedule. This is going to take intensive parental involvement. Did you "supplement at home" by leaving your workplace, showing up at your kid's school, finding the right workbook, and turning to the right page for every lesson, every day? Supplementing at home is practicing sounding out words after school and work. This is not the same at all and you're being totally disingenuous.

Yes it takes intensive parental involvement but most people do. Would I do that, absolutely and I did. My child ended up with SN and I ended up quitting to make sure he got to daily (sometimes multiple times a day therapies) and we did tons of supplementing at home. My husband took off on days I could not do it and he now does the main part of DL making sure the kids are on, supplementing things like math (beyond me at this point) and much more. We taught are kids to read and have always supplemented math heavily to keep them on track. But, the difference between you and us is we are heavily involved parents and our kids needs come first. Supplementing at home is teaching your kids to read and basic math, not 5 minutes before bed of sounding out words while you tuck them in. You make it work or you hire someone.

Wow, this is mean. I'm sorry you have had to quit your job due to helping with SN stuff. I have an autistic sibling and my mom had to do the same. It was very very intense. I respect it a lot.

However, SN is not the standard situation. Most parents do not stop working to get their kids through elementary school. Most kids do not require one on one attention throughout the standard school day. For instance, my other sibling with ADHD and I with no SN got help from our parents after school when we needed it, which did not constitute 4-6 hours a day at any point, and definitely not in kindergarten. I think if that is your bar for "heavily involved," and you think 5 year olds are behind if they are not independently reading far beyond grade level before kindergarten, then yes, all dual income households have bad parents who don't care about their kids, don't consider their kids' needs to be a priority, and should be pushing their kids much harder. I still think it's unreasonable to expect that ALL parents of school aged children should either quit their jobs or somehow find the money for private household help. If that's the expectation why even have public schools?

I'm not sorry at all for quitting my job. I love being home and my child is doing well so it was all worth it. I wouldn't have otherwise and my life is much better for it. I had no idea how much joy being home would bring me. Dual income families in your situation can probably afford child care but made life choices to spend their money on houses, cars and other things so there isn't much extra money in the budget now for child care. We live way under our means so if we had to pay for child care now we could have. You need to teach your 5 year old to read. It has nothing to do with working or not, its a basic parenting task. And, school is no longer free child care. You've had since March to figure it out. Public school is to educate but parents also need to be involved and not just hand their kids off to school and let the school deal with it. Public schools are still educating but from now on that education will be different. So, now you need to rearrange your lives and figure it out. One parent may need to stay home or get a more flexible job or hire child care.

DP. You clearly need somebody else to teach your children kindness, empathy, and logic, however. They obviously can't learn any of that from you or their absentee father.

I am sorry you carry such rage for your husband (which is clearly the heart of your resentment), but not all fathers are so checked out.

Teacher here. Some kids are reading independently by kindergarten. Some don't read independently until soon after kindergarten. Both are fully normal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We can only even have this argument because technology allows for "distance learning". A few decades ago, schools would just have closed, and then they wouldn't have been providing education OR child care. Before now, the child care and education were inseparable because kids had to be in person to do it.

Right, and I think that's clouding the discussion. I have an incoming kindergartener who can't read. (We're working on it, he knows some sight words and is getting better at sounding them out, but he isn't a comfortable, fluent, independent reader.) I'm frankly quite skeptical that they ARE separable. I suspect the parents or whoever is doing the childcare will also be doing an equal amount of the education as the teacher, if not more. I suspect kids will not learn as much if they have working parents, which would indicate that education is not something you can deliver at arm's reach. These are just my suspicions. I'd like to be wrong.

Then teach your kid to read like the rest of us did. You still need to supplement at home.

I'm working on it, thanks. My point in mentioning that was that my kid can't even do the first step in DL on his own, which is read the schedule. This is going to take intensive parental involvement. Did you "supplement at home" by leaving your workplace, showing up at your kid's school, finding the right workbook, and turning to the right page for every lesson, every day? Supplementing at home is practicing sounding out words after school and work. This is not the same at all and you're being totally disingenuous.

Yes it takes intensive parental involvement but most people do. Would I do that, absolutely and I did. My child ended up with SN and I ended up quitting to make sure he got to daily (sometimes multiple times a day therapies) and we did tons of supplementing at home. My husband took off on days I could not do it and he now does the main part of DL making sure the kids are on, supplementing things like math (beyond me at this point) and much more. We taught are kids to read and have always supplemented math heavily to keep them on track. But, the difference between you and us is we are heavily involved parents and our kids needs come first. Supplementing at home is teaching your kids to read and basic math, not 5 minutes before bed of sounding out words while you tuck them in. You make it work or you hire someone.

Wow, this is mean. I'm sorry you have had to quit your job due to helping with SN stuff. I have an autistic sibling and my mom had to do the same. It was very very intense. I respect it a lot.

However, SN is not the standard situation. Most parents do not stop working to get their kids through elementary school. Most kids do not require one on one attention throughout the standard school day. For instance, my other sibling with ADHD and I with no SN got help from our parents after school when we needed it, which did not constitute 4-6 hours a day at any point, and definitely not in kindergarten. I think if that is your bar for "heavily involved," and you think 5 year olds are behind if they are not independently reading far beyond grade level before kindergarten, then yes, all dual income households have bad parents who don't care about their kids, don't consider their kids' needs to be a priority, and should be pushing their kids much harder. I still think it's unreasonable to expect that ALL parents of school aged children should either quit their jobs or somehow find the money for private household help. If that's the expectation why even have public schools?

I'm not sorry at all for quitting my job. I love being home and my child is doing well so it was all worth it. I wouldn't have otherwise and my life is much better for it. I had no idea how much joy being home would bring me. Dual income families in your situation can probably afford child care but made life choices to spend their money on houses, cars and other things so there isn't much extra money in the budget now for child care. We live way under our means so if we had to pay for child care now we could have. You need to teach your 5 year old to read. It has nothing to do with working or not, its a basic parenting task. And, school is no longer free child care. You've had since March to figure it out. Public school is to educate but parents also need to be involved and not just hand their kids off to school and let the school deal with it. Public schools are still educating but from now on that education will be different. So, now you need to rearrange your lives and figure it out. One parent may need to stay home or get a more flexible job or hire child care.

DP. You clearly need somebody else to teach your children kindness, empathy, and logic, however. They obviously can't learn any of that from you or their absentee father.

I am sorry you carry such rage for your husband (which is clearly the heart of your resentment), but not all fathers are so checked out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We can only even have this argument because technology allows for "distance learning". A few decades ago, schools would just have closed, and then they wouldn't have been providing education OR child care. Before now, the child care and education were inseparable because kids had to be in person to do it.

Right, and I think that's clouding the discussion. I have an incoming kindergartener who can't read. (We're working on it, he knows some sight words and is getting better at sounding them out, but he isn't a comfortable, fluent, independent reader.) I'm frankly quite skeptical that they ARE separable. I suspect the parents or whoever is doing the childcare will also be doing an equal amount of the education as the teacher, if not more. I suspect kids will not learn as much if they have working parents, which would indicate that education is not something you can deliver at arm's reach. These are just my suspicions. I'd like to be wrong.

Then teach your kid to read like the rest of us did. You still need to supplement at home.

I'm working on it, thanks. My point in mentioning that was that my kid can't even do the first step in DL on his own, which is read the schedule. This is going to take intensive parental involvement. Did you "supplement at home" by leaving your workplace, showing up at your kid's school, finding the right workbook, and turning to the right page for every lesson, every day? Supplementing at home is practicing sounding out words after school and work. This is not the same at all and you're being totally disingenuous.

Yes it takes intensive parental involvement but most people do. Would I do that, absolutely and I did. My child ended up with SN and I ended up quitting to make sure he got to daily (sometimes multiple times a day therapies) and we did tons of supplementing at home. My husband took off on days I could not do it and he now does the main part of DL making sure the kids are on, supplementing things like math (beyond me at this point) and much more. We taught are kids to read and have always supplemented math heavily to keep them on track. But, the difference between you and us is we are heavily involved parents and our kids needs come first. Supplementing at home is teaching your kids to read and basic math, not 5 minutes before bed of sounding out words while you tuck them in. You make it work or you hire someone.

Find a way to pay either me or my husband enough that one of us can stay home and we'll gladly do that. As is, it isn't an option to just not work, we need to eat, live indoors, wear clothes and occasionally get medical care. Contrary to popular belief, we don't work for fun, personal fulfillment or ego, we work because we need the money.

Anonymous wrote:I think there are a lot of assumptions flying around here. Classist? Misogynistic? Oh the SAHM is home and must be bored - she’ll take my extra diaper brat. Umm, no.

I'd love time to be bored. Between my kids and up till recently taking care of my MIL, I keep my days very full.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We can only even have this argument because technology allows for "distance learning". A few decades ago, schools would just have closed, and then they wouldn't have been providing education OR child care. Before now, the child care and education were inseparable because kids had to be in person to do it.

Right, and I think that's clouding the discussion. I have an incoming kindergartener who can't read. (We're working on it, he knows some sight words and is getting better at sounding them out, but he isn't a comfortable, fluent, independent reader.) I'm frankly quite skeptical that they ARE separable. I suspect the parents or whoever is doing the childcare will also be doing an equal amount of the education as the teacher, if not more. I suspect kids will not learn as much if they have working parents, which would indicate that education is not something you can deliver at arm's reach. These are just my suspicions. I'd like to be wrong.

Then teach your kid to read like the rest of us did. You still need to supplement at home.

I'm working on it, thanks. My point in mentioning that was that my kid can't even do the first step in DL on his own, which is read the schedule. This is going to take intensive parental involvement. Did you "supplement at home" by leaving your workplace, showing up at your kid's school, finding the right workbook, and turning to the right page for every lesson, every day? Supplementing at home is practicing sounding out words after school and work. This is not the same at all and you're being totally disingenuous.

Yes it takes intensive parental involvement but most people do. Would I do that, absolutely and I did. My child ended up with SN and I ended up quitting to make sure he got to daily (sometimes multiple times a day therapies) and we did tons of supplementing at home. My husband took off on days I could not do it and he now does the main part of DL making sure the kids are on, supplementing things like math (beyond me at this point) and much more. We taught are kids to read and have always supplemented math heavily to keep them on track. But, the difference between you and us is we are heavily involved parents and our kids needs come first. Supplementing at home is teaching your kids to read and basic math, not 5 minutes before bed of sounding out words while you tuck them in. You make it work or you hire someone.

Wow, this is mean. I'm sorry you have had to quit your job due to helping with SN stuff. I have an autistic sibling and my mom had to do the same. It was very very intense. I respect it a lot.

However, SN is not the standard situation. Most parents do not stop working to get their kids through elementary school. Most kids do not require one on one attention throughout the standard school day. For instance, my other sibling with ADHD and I with no SN got help from our parents after school when we needed it, which did not constitute 4-6 hours a day at any point, and definitely not in kindergarten. I think if that is your bar for "heavily involved," and you think 5 year olds are behind if they are not independently reading far beyond grade level before kindergarten, then yes, all dual income households have bad parents who don't care about their kids, don't consider their kids' needs to be a priority, and should be pushing their kids much harder. I still think it's unreasonable to expect that ALL parents of school aged children should either quit their jobs or somehow find the money for private household help. If that's the expectation why even have public schools?

I'm not sorry at all for quitting my job. I love being home and my child is doing well so it was all worth it. I wouldn't have otherwise and my life is much better for it. I had no idea how much joy being home would bring me. Dual income families in your situation can probably afford child care but made life choices to spend their money on houses, cars and other things so there isn't much extra money in the budget now for child care. We live way under our means so if we had to pay for child care now we could have. You need to teach your 5 year old to read. It has nothing to do with working or not, its a basic parenting task. And, school is no longer free child care. You've had since March to figure it out. Public school is to educate but parents also need to be involved and not just hand their kids off to school and let the school deal with it. Public schools are still educating but from now on that education will be different. So, now you need to rearrange your lives and figure it out. One parent may need to stay home or get a more flexible job or hire child care.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We can only even have this argument because technology allows for "distance learning". A few decades ago, schools would just have closed, and then they wouldn't have been providing education OR child care. Before now, the child care and education were inseparable because kids had to be in person to do it.

Right, and I think that's clouding the discussion. I have an incoming kindergartener who can't read. (We're working on it, he knows some sight words and is getting better at sounding them out, but he isn't a comfortable, fluent, independent reader.) I'm frankly quite skeptical that they ARE separable. I suspect the parents or whoever is doing the childcare will also be doing an equal amount of the education as the teacher, if not more. I suspect kids will not learn as much if they have working parents, which would indicate that education is not something you can deliver at arm's reach. These are just my suspicions. I'd like to be wrong.

Then teach your kid to read like the rest of us did. You still need to supplement at home.

I'm working on it, thanks. My point in mentioning that was that my kid can't even do the first step in DL on his own, which is read the schedule. This is going to take intensive parental involvement. Did you "supplement at home" by leaving your workplace, showing up at your kid's school, finding the right workbook, and turning to the right page for every lesson, every day? Supplementing at home is practicing sounding out words after school and work. This is not the same at all and you're being totally disingenuous.

Yes it takes intensive parental involvement but most people do. Would I do that, absolutely and I did. My child ended up with SN and I ended up quitting to make sure he got to daily (sometimes multiple times a day therapies) and we did tons of supplementing at home. My husband took off on days I could not do it and he now does the main part of DL making sure the kids are on, supplementing things like math (beyond me at this point) and much more. We taught are kids to read and have always supplemented math heavily to keep them on track. But, the difference between you and us is we are heavily involved parents and our kids needs come first. Supplementing at home is teaching your kids to read and basic math, not 5 minutes before bed of sounding out words while you tuck them in. You make it work or you hire someone.

Wow, this is mean. I'm sorry you have had to quit your job due to helping with SN stuff. I have an autistic sibling and my mom had to do the same. It was very very intense. I respect it a lot.

However, SN is not the standard situation. Most parents do not stop working to get their kids through elementary school. Most kids do not require one on one attention throughout the standard school day. For instance, my other sibling with ADHD and I with no SN got help from our parents after school when we needed it, which did not constitute 4-6 hours a day at any point, and definitely not in kindergarten. I think if that is your bar for "heavily involved," and you think 5 year olds are behind if they are not independently reading far beyond grade level before kindergarten, then yes, all dual income households have bad parents who don't care about their kids, don't consider their kids' needs to be a priority, and should be pushing their kids much harder. I still think it's unreasonable to expect that ALL parents of school aged children should either quit their jobs or somehow find the money for private household help. If that's the expectation why even have public schools?

I think there are a lot of assumptions flying around here. Classist? Misogynistic? Oh the SAHM is home and must be bored - she’ll take my extra diaper brat. Umm, no.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think multi-generational families may be the answer to childcare. Or having neighbors (SAH) provide childcare in DL situations. My DH thinks that robots are the answer.

What about multigenerational families with multiple siblings, who gets the grandparents? Or younger grandparents who are still working? And the many many DC area families who moved hundreds of miles from their hometowns to work here? I think this is a sad situation, SAHMs willing to take an extra kid could help a TON and so could max flexibility from workplaces, but i don't think any of these could really patch the gap. There's no one size fits all solution short of kicking women out of the workplace.

Maybe robots. Damn that's sad.

My parents live 5 minute a way and have never once babysat and barely know the grandkids. Why should SAHM's take on your extra kids that you don't want to parent? I am home for my kids, I wouldn't even do it if you paid me. And, you are putting it on women but no reason why Dad's cannot step up and do it too. My husband does a lot with the DL by choice. But, we actually enjoy or kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We can only even have this argument because technology allows for "distance learning". A few decades ago, schools would just have closed, and then they wouldn't have been providing education OR child care. Before now, the child care and education were inseparable because kids had to be in person to do it.

Right, and I think that's clouding the discussion. I have an incoming kindergartener who can't read. (We're working on it, he knows some sight words and is getting better at sounding them out, but he isn't a comfortable, fluent, independent reader.) I'm frankly quite skeptical that they ARE separable. I suspect the parents or whoever is doing the childcare will also be doing an equal amount of the education as the teacher, if not more. I suspect kids will not learn as much if they have working parents, which would indicate that education is not something you can deliver at arm's reach. These are just my suspicions. I'd like to be wrong.

Then teach your kid to read like the rest of us did. You still need to supplement at home.

I'm working on it, thanks. My point in mentioning that was that my kid can't even do the first step in DL on his own, which is read the schedule. This is going to take intensive parental involvement. Did you "supplement at home" by leaving your workplace, showing up at your kid's school, finding the right workbook, and turning to the right page for every lesson, every day? Supplementing at home is practicing sounding out words after school and work. This is not the same at all and you're being totally disingenuous.

Yes it takes intensive parental involvement but most people do. Would I do that, absolutely and I did. My child ended up with SN and I ended up quitting to make sure he got to daily (sometimes multiple times a day therapies) and we did tons of supplementing at home. My husband took off on days I could not do it and he now does the main part of DL making sure the kids are on, supplementing things like math (beyond me at this point) and much more. We taught are kids to read and have always supplemented math heavily to keep them on track. But, the difference between you and us is we are heavily involved parents and our kids needs come first. Supplementing at home is teaching your kids to read and basic math, not 5 minutes before bed of sounding out words while you tuck them in. You make it work or you hire someone.

Anonymous wrote:I just don't know why it's society's problem, or why it needs a government solution. You had the kids. Their care is your responsibility. "Parents" relying on others to raise their family needs to stop.

Large families (I’m talking people with 3 or more kids) specifically kept popping out these babies thinking someone else would take care of them for 18 years.

I’m glad America is waking up to how stupid this is and parents continually complaining about taking care of their own kids are getting no sympathy for a reason.