Not only is affordable housing a necessity in my city of Calgary, so is the need for affordable child care. Here is the reality I see in my neighbourhood of Lincoln Park, a community mostly of people who live in affordable housing.
This morning I dealt with a 5-year-old boy in my neighbourhood. He had been beating up on other kids. When I went to the home, it was his teenage brother and sister looking after him. Mom was at work.
Earlier another neighbour had told me that the kids were out of school today. She wondered how she would get a job with a one year old baby and her son going to Kindergarten. If she put them in Daycare, the money she brought in would not be enough to pay for the child care, let alone food, rent, etc...
Last week I sat down with another mom in the community. She asked if I could watch her kids every Friday as they have half days that day, she has a full-time job. Plus the kids have many parent teacher days, again, day care is not affordable. I have watched kids in my neighbourhood before, and the need is growing more and more.
Parents with multiple children are leaving it up to the older children to watch the younger ones, as it is just too expensive for day care.
I remember this as a night shift clerk working at a gas station. What day care is open during the night to watch your child?
A 14-year-old boy where I work, comes in every day to get food for his siblings. He is the responsible shopper, the one who looks after his family. He should be doing sports, recreation, enjoying his adolescence. He is such a responsible, polite young man, I wish I could do more for him.
I can't watch every child in my community, so how do we access the assets in every community to fix this issue? Because I know that it's happening all over Calgary. Parents and children are suffering. I see, hear, and feel the anguish parents are going through. And I see the lack of being what you are supposed to be as a youth.
Can't we do better Calgary?
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