Parent Lessons
December 17th, 2008by Doc Opp
When it comes to raising babies, there are a few things worth noting:
1) Critical cognitive and social development happens at a young age, and babies that are neglected, mistreated, or otherwise are deprived of cognitive, emotional, or physical nourishment are at a serious disadvantage for the rest of their lives.
2) Babies don’t come with instruction manuals.
I got lucky. I had fabulous parents in so many ways, as did most of my friends. But not all kids are so fortunate, and its not always malice that leads to problems - ignorance can be just as damaging. Wouldn’t it be great if parents all took a course on how to be good parents before they had kids? The information that would be taught in such a course exists already - in parenting books, online parenting forums, etc. But the problem is, its the people who are least likely to seek out that material that are most likely to need it.
Now, as a libertarian I’m unlikely to suggest mandatory parenting classes (it would be impossible to enforce anyway). But how about making that tax deduction people get for dependents being contingent on having passed a parenting course? That would strongly encourage people to participate (it wouldn’t be hard to create an online course and undoubtedly a number of nonprofit family organizations would happily provide free training of this sort). And any costs incurred to society would almost certainly be repaid many times over in terms of lower crime rates and more productive members of society.
I admit I haven’t fully thought this through, but given how susceptible young children are to positive and negative influences during development, you’d think this sort of thing would be on the policy radar, and as far as I can tell it isn’t.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
A while back, my wife forwarded me a link about a guy in Harlem who is offering parenting classes to poor families in Harlem:
http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1262
He noticed that “common knowledge” parenting facts in the suburban community he lived in (things like the importance of reading to your child, the necessity of continual positive reinforcement, the greater effectiveness of using “timeouts” instead of corporal punishment, etc.) were unheard of in the poor neighborhood where he ran a charity. So he started offering assistance to young families, on the condition that (among other things) they attend a parenting class–and after tracking the kids for a few years, it seems to be working pretty well.
So while I like your goals, I’m worried that tax-deductions aren’t the right strategy. The problem is that the poorest families (AKA the ones who need it most) tend to not file regular income taxes. I’d rather use additional food-stamp benefits, public transportation vouchers, or even just plain and simple cash, to encourage attendance.
December 18th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
“The problem is that the poorest families (AKA the ones who need it most) tend to not file regular income taxes”
So… who is taking the child care deductions? Is this a hidden subsidy for the wealthy?
December 18th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Not just the wealthy; the middle and even lower-middle classes have to file too (and they don’t have to worry about the AMT), in addition to anyone who wants the Earned Income Tax Credit. According to IRS Pub 501, however, you don’t have to file if you earned less than about $11,000 ($18,000 if you’re married) in gross income (which means income after deductions). So anyone making anything close to minimum wage doesn’t have to, legally; and from my experience, many of the poorest Americans (even those who *should* file) don’t because of a variety of reasons related to literacy, familiarity with tax law, the hassle involved, etc.
December 26th, 2008 at 6:41 am
There are advertisements on the new york subway encouraging parents to spend time reading to their children and giving hugs and showing physical affection. Just a hunch but my guess is that a large percent of the advertisements I see makes me worse off / feel worse by encouraging unhealthy eating, spending or exacerbating an insecurity. Its nice to see that the institution and its techniques are being used to do good. Better still, advertising on the subway supports public transit - hooray!! — and in poorer communities it offers a counter to plethora of bail bond, paternity testing, and alcohol advertisements that pollute inner city billboards.