If you google the phrases “child care” or “early childhood education” with the word “crisis” you will find plenty of articles and books. In fact you will find articles and books written  in 2020, 2009, 2000, 1989 and  the years in between and in many of the years before that.  I will bet you that articles and books will be written in 2021 talking about the crisis in child care. Sometimes the crisis is lack of investment. Sometimes the crisis is curriculum that is not developmentally appropriate. Sometimes the crisis is fill in the blank________________.

But all the crises have the same root. Power. Early childhood educators and child care workers do not have a lot of power. In addition, people in positions of power do not have much experience in early childhood education and child care. (For instanced , Senator Tammy Duckworth was the first Senator in USA history to give birth in 2018) I must pause here to define what I mean by power in this post because it is a specific type of power I am referring to.

I am talking about the power of elected officials who can make, sign, and enforce laws and policies.  

People with experience in early childhood education need to run for office and to win. We need to do this at every level (town/city/county/state/federal)  and every type of position. I am talking about Local School Committees, Library Trustees, Treasures, Sheriffs, Governor’s Council, State Senators, State Representatives, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Party Delegates, District Attorneys, Governors, Registers of Deeds, Country Commissioners, Mayors, Town Council Presidents, Rail Road Commissioners, City Council, Town Council, Senators, Representatives, State Controller, any other random elected position I forgot, and of course President of The United States.

You might be thinking that the transition from being an early educator to any of these positions might be too much.

To that I say, our current president’s last job was realty TV host. The current Mayor of Knox County is Pro Wrestler Kane  and former Governor of Minnesota was a pro wrestler too.  California had a governor who was an action movie star and another governor of California was an actor before becoming governor and eventually president. A prominent member of congress was a bartender and waitress  before being elected. There are countless other examples, but in short, the main qualification to get an elected position is to win said election now the job(s) you had before.

That is obviously easier said than done, but it can be done. Early educators can get power. We can be the ones who are creating and signing the laws that not only impact the fields of early childhood education and child care, but also that effect the lives of children and families as a whole.

How can we get there? The same way a young child can build a gigantic block tower. They might spend years trying to build that tower and have it constantly fall down. They will go into that block area and build and build and then scream in frustration when that tower falls again. Then they will do the same thing the next day and the next. But, one day, after years and years of trying and failing, the giant block tower is complete and does not fall. And if at least one child in every program across the country is working on building giant block towers, even with the 1000s of collective block towers that will fall, a few will stand.

So it can go with early educators and winning elections. If tens of 10000s of early educators across the country run for office, many of those proverbial block towers will fall; but some will stand. Moreover, those who build the giant block tower and win their election can then help the next group trying to complete that block tower and win. We need the same people who sat on the rug with that child as they built the block tower and understand what the child is learning when they build  to be the ones make the laws that not only impact early education, but every aspect of the country.

If we want to make things better and end any “crisis” it will be easier when we have the power to do so.