Why does child care feel like Groundhog’s Day?

Why is child care feeling like Groundhog’s Day?

Does every pandemic day feel like it’s repeating itself over and over (and over) again? Like the actual movie Groundhog’s Day, where Bill Murray’s character is forced to wake up and repeat the exact same day, day after day–except instead of a gopher, we’re handling the care for our children. Often without much support.

In my case, I had just woken up to begin my workday AND my day as a toddler mom. While in the bathroom half-asleep, I heard a light crash. By the time I rushed to the kitchen, I saw that my groundhog, I mean toddler, had successfully smashed his way through a closed baby gate and broke an entire carton of eggs onto the kitchen floor.

For many of us, it feels like we’re barely hanging on. The infuriating thing though, is that we don’t NEED to live this way. The U.S House passed the Build Back Better plan that is helping to end this ongoing repetitive episode for so many of our families! This bill would pass life-saving measures for families like extending the Child Tax Credit payments, solving the child care and Pre-K crisis, guaranteeing paid family and medical leave when your family needs it, making home-and community-based services for the elderly and those with disabilities more affordable, lowering the cost of insulin and other prescription drugs, and more.

Your voice is needed because unfortunately, every Republican Senator and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin is refusing to support this.

This is why we are asking you to TAKE ACTION to raise your voice and also tweet a photo (like the one above) to tell and show the Build Back Better holdouts in the U.S. Senate that we are sick and tired of living Groundhog’s Day and we need the life-changing support to finally end this infuriating cycle.

Dropped eggs

*Tell the Senators we are tired of this endless deja vu and that we expect them to follow the lead of the U.S. House by passing Build Back Better!

Dear member of Congress,

For too many parents and caregivers, every pandemic day feels like an ongoing never-ending cycle of providing care with no support. For many of us, it feels like we’re barely hanging on. The frustrating thing is that it doesn’t need to be this way!

Even the U.S. Department of Treasury has stated “The existing child care system in the United States, which relies on private financing ... fails to adequately serve many families. This is not just happenstance — sound economic principles explain why relying on private money to provide child care is bound to come up short.”

Moms, dads, and concerned people from around the country need you to move forward on solutions that can help us and our families! We urge you to make a comprehensive, high-quality child care and Pre-K system for families a reality by passing the Build Back Better Plan.

This includes:

Less or no out of pocket child care costs for families
Families can find affordable, high-quality child care no matter where they live
Child care providers get paid living, family-supporting wages which will help meet the rising demand for staff and make sure the people who care for our kids are able to support their own families
FREE Pre-K

Now is the time to make a comprehensive, affordable, high-quality child care and Pre-K system for families a reality!

It's critical that Congress continue to advance child care and early learning so we can end the endless loop of struggle with child care for families throughout the country.

Sincerely,

Contact Information

Name*

Email address*

ZIP Code*

Get text message alerts (Standard text message charges may apply)

Mobile Phone*

Privacy Policy (the basics): We do not share the information you've given us with unaffiliated groups without your explicit permission. For petitions, letters to the editor, and surveys you've signed or completed, we treat your name, city, state, and comments as public information. We will not make your street address publicly available, but we may transmit it to members of Congress, the President, or other targets specifically noted on the signup page. We will send you updates on this and other important campaigns by email. If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from our email list, you may do so. For our complete privacy policy, click here.