Child care guru Penelope Leach on day care

Mackenzie Carpenter| Nov. 17 2008

When I was a new mom, untold years ago (16.8 years ago, to be exact) I was a Penelope Leach mom.  Penelope Leach as in the child care guru, whose books I devoured and preferred over all other forms of advice -- including Dr. Berry Brazelton's, Dr. Spock's or my mother's. 

Never mind that Ms. Leach's relaxed, child-centered philosophy (feed them when they're hungry, don't let them cry it out) was something I could only partially follow before the control freak in me kicked in.  Something about her child care books -- "Babyhood," and "Your Baby and Child," which has sold more than 2 million copies -- resonated. Hers was a no-nonsense, practical British voice backed by scholarship and leavened with warmth and empathy for the struggling new parent.  Indeed, one of her chief goals was to make parents feel comfortable with themselves. not failures -- the first step towards successful parenting.

A few years later, I had the privilege of interviewing Ms. Leach at her home in London for a series on child care I was writing for the Post-Gazette with my colleague Sally Kalson .  Ms. Leach had just published a book, "Children First," about the abysmal state of day care in the U.S. and Europe and the lack of coherent, comprehensive child-family policies in many Western countries, including paid parental and maternity leave, for starters.  She stirred a great deal of controversy when she suggested that children were better off when their mothers stayed home during the early years, not because she was opposed to working mothers, but because day care was mostly mediocre or worse.

Today, I received a copy of her latest book, "Child Care Today: Getting it Right for Everyone"  It's not a how-to advice book, but an update on the state of child care in the 21st Century.  Some of it looks a little wonky, but Ms. Leach always writes in a clear and accessible fashion and there's lots of information in it.  In addressing "the real issues in combining the human essentials of earning and caregiving," she looks at the things that matter:  how "family" day care differs from "group" day care, why parents choose the child care arrangements they do and the quality of care at different ages and from different perspectives. For any mother or father interested in examining their own choices in a global context. this book looks like a must-read.  There's a final section, clearly targeted at policy makers and politicians, on how to make excellent child care a priority and an investment that pays for itself over and over again.  Maybe some of them will actually read it.

"Child Care Today" is being published by Alfred A. Knopf, costs $24.95 and will be released on Jan. 20, 2009 -- the same day our new president is inaugurated.  Mere coincidence?  I don't think so.