Iris Evans made a comment last month about family life, childcare, education and mental illness. What she was supposed to be focusing on, as Alberta’s finance minister, was finance - and she was doing that. In fact, what she was proposing was pretty news worthy in itself - the ALBERTA BOOM apparently needs Five Billion Dollars after reporting its first deficient in more than 10 years. I’d hate to think what they would need had they been a “Have Not” province… not that I’m saying anything about how well she does her job at all. She would know the state of Alberta’s finances much better than I.
See what I did there? I admitted that I may not know the full picture.
I’m not saying I don’t have an opinion on it, though.
Just like Iris Evans has an opinion on how to raise children. She’s allowed an opinion. In fact, she has experience in this area. Apparently, she has raised her three sons through some of her own financial difficulties. So when she offhandedly remarked that good parenting requires one parent to stay home, admitting the financial sacrifice that this would incur, she had done some personal research in the area.
And even though this was her opinion and not a move toward changing government policy, the general public went a little wacko. She tried to apologize but the debate had begun and I still get the odd email with a link to her statements.
The thing is, Iris Evans said what a lot of people think. Hell, if more parents stayed at home then governments wouldn’t have to fund day cares or consider full time Kindergartens - regardless of the research proving the benefits for these programs on children’s development.
Five Billion Dollars.
If one parent stayed at home then perhaps we wouldn’t be using our tax dollars for funding those Baby Boomers and their nursing homes, either. They can move in with the grandkids!
Five Billion Dollars.
What about that comment regarding mental health issues? Seriously? We are up in arms about the Stay At Home Parent thing (which is nothing new) and let the fact that a former minister for Health and Wellness links parenting skill to deficiencies in mental health?!? Of course, parents who might be plunking their children in front of Sesame Street telling themselves that they are teaching their precious offspring to read are better simply because they are at home? I highly doubt this is what she was saying and yet… this is what she said.
Or perhaps children with mental health issues are less likely to be diagnosed at home? There are no educational professionals at home who notice warning signs, ask for tests, or begin early prevention. From my own experience, if a mother thinks there could be something wrong isn’t she a lot easier to dismiss as paranoid or “searching for perfection” than someone trained in Early Childhood Education?
Again, Five Billion Dollars.
I’m not trying to say Iris Evans is a part of a conspiracy to save the government billions of dollars in social care costs. No one listens to a conspiracy theorist on the internet (or off, really). However, to lump educating your children about the value of a dollar AND raising the stay at home parent flag AND the root cause of declining mental health all in one package either says she’s never had any coaching in public speaking, is extremely ignorant or maybe, just maybe… she’s getting good at her job.
