Shows, and More Stories of 24-hour Daycare

The shows went great! Now that it’s over and I’m not giving away spoilers, I can say that that Molly Lewis asked me to play the role of “Nicole Dieker,” which is fitting since my job these days seems to be getting asked to be a heightened version of myself.

The role of “Nicole Dieker” asked me to play a thrifty, efficient person who was only happy when she was busy. We are not surprised, right?

On to a subject that isn’t me. Today’s morning reading is ThinkProgress’s Why We Pay People Who Care For Children Like Parking Lot Attendants, which starts by addressing the subject of 24-hour daycares (and I have to note that a week ago I wasn’t even aware that 24-hour daycares existed, and now I’m seeing stories about them everywhere) and then gives us this thought to consider:

Childcare providers’ wage growth was lower than the growth in wages paid to fast food workers. They were consistently in the bottom second or third percentile in salary rankings, sharing that status with parking lot attendants, laundry workers, fast food employees, and bartenders. Perhaps most strikingly, the people who care for our youngest children earn less than those who care for animals in zoos or homes.

I am sadly not surprised that childcare workers get paid less than people who care for animals. We constantly devalue the work of caring for and raising children.

Anyway, let’s discuss childcare wages to start off the morning. I suspect we’d all be on board for raising childcare provider wages. The trouble is — not to spoil the North and South discussion that’s going to happen in a few hours — how to solve the problem and actually increase wages across the industry. (Spoiler: they don’t figure it out in North and South either.)

Photo credit: Alex

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