And the Stroller Moms Marched Again - Part I of III

All parents have their limits. And when they’re pushed past your limits, they’re compelled to take action, whether the person who requires a reality check is a kid or a politician.

The folks at Toronto City Hall lost sight of that simple fact this week (and it really is a very simple fact, once you’ve committed it to memory: you can only push a parent so far).

You don’t have to be a genius to figure our that messing with daycare means that your going to end up with a lot of highly-energized stroller-pushing moms (and one dad) in your face (parents who organized their meet-ups via blogs, Facebook, and Twitter, by the way: this generation of parents knows how to put technology to good use).

With a chronic shortage of quality, affordable daycare in this city (and across the country) parents have no choice but to take to the streets to protest City Hall’s decision to declare a one-year moratorium on the creation day nurseries on a three-block stretch of High Park Avenue.

Toronto parent Lindsay Viets feels that parents across the city need to send a clear message to City Hall: this kind of action won’t be tolerated by the parents anywhere within the City of Toronto: that an attack on daycare anywhere in the city will be considered an attack on daycare everywhere in this city.

“This City decision sets a dangerous precedent for all of Toronto; and anyone who needs daycare, or might need daycare in the future, should be angry about the decision.”

Until it finds itself dealing with a surplus of childcare spaces, The City of Toronto doesn’t have the luxury of calling a moratorium on day nurseries. To do otherwise is to put NIMBY-ism before sound social policy. And what politician wants that kind of decision on his or her voting record, come election day?

Earth to out-of-touch politicians: Babies and toddlers might not be old enough to vote, but their moms and dads certainly are. You might want to make a note of that in bright red crayon.