I had an interesting interview about child care with Jeff Katz, co-founder of Mercury Payment Systems (see the story from that interview here). Katz contributed the start-up funding for the Early Childhood Enrichment Center, a Montessori day care (here’s a story I did when the center opened). The point he made during the interview was that the private sector should shoulder a greater part of the burden for quality childcare. 

As a parent with two children in childcare, it’s hard to argue with that. Unlike the public-school years, parents with young children are really on their own. Cost and availability are constant problems. It’s hard for parents to be discriminating about quality when openings that match their schedules and location are few and far between. It can lead many working parents to question whether it’s all worth it, but at the same time many families need to two incomes to get by. 

Only time will tell if private givers can make the difference when it comes to improving child care, but it’s admirable that someone of Katz’ stature is confronting the issue, putting his money where his mouth is. It certainly would be encouraging if others would do the same. Because when it come to investing in children, as Katz said, “it’s really pay now or pay later.”

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Tags: Childcare, development, Finances

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