Article 18 Part 2: The State as the Ultimate Parent Continued

For our final article regarding the UNCRC, we’ll be taking a look at how the CRC provides for free government services to assist parents as they raise their children. I know free government services are enticing when economic times are tough, but nothing is ever free—and governmental services that supplement the care of your children are no exception to the rule. Article 18 Section 3 states:

3. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that children of working parents have the right to benefit from child-care services and facilities for which they are eligible.
How can free daycare be anything but beneficial? We’ll take a look at the price that you’ll pay for these “free” services. We’re going to start by examining Sweden, a socialist country that was the first industrialized western nation to sign the CRC and provides child-care services and facilities to its citizens.

Sweden is a good place to start in our discussion of free child care services and facilities. While American parents enjoy the option of choosing whether or not their child will be involved in sex-education, in Sweden it is mandatory. Sweden also bans spanking, as do most European countries, but a 1979 ruling states that parents cannot use “physical punishment or any other humiliating treatment” to train their children. This has been applied to time-out and being sent to the bedroom as a punishment. The result is that Swedish parents must negotiate with their children. There are no punishments that the parents are allowed to wield to enforce boundaries in the household. Without the ability to enforce the rules set in place, parents are unable to discipline their children.

Sweden offers free programs for children. The Swedish municipalities are responsible for providing voluntary child-care services, but many of these services are no longer considered voluntary. Just as sex education is now mandatory, according to Swedish activist Ruby Harrold-Claesson, parents are now being bullied by social workers who tell them that they must put their children in these state-funded programs, or they will lose custody. What first appeared to be a wonderful solution for the working parents of Sweden has turned into a stick that can be wielded to ensure that the children are under the control of the government rather than the family.

There is a warning for America in Sweden’s story and it is something we are seeing today in the news. You are probably familiar with the scandal over AIG handing out bonuses to their executives after accepting federal funds to keep the company afloat last year. So if the government pays for your childcare, what kind of strings could they attach? It’s safe to say that you would have to use specific daycares, and considering the state of our schools today, religious daycare would not be an option if you’re using federal funds. The risks go on and on, but how long will it be before the voluntary childcare becomes mandatory? It isn’t farfetched. If we follow this path, we are only a few decades behind Sweden. The government doesn’t hand out free money. The government hands out money and then has the right to tell you what to do with it—after all, it isn’t your money. So no, there is no such thing as free child care—especially not when federal funds are involved.

Free childcare and facilities sounds like a great addition to the utopian society that we all long to see. Unfortunately, on this side of heaven, government programs will always be offered with strings attached by the political party in power. We run the risk, if we accept these handouts, of becoming like AIG—monitored closely by the government to ensure that there is not monetary waste. Today we are even seeing governors who don’t want to take bailout money because of the strings attached. Instead of respecting the governor’s right as the elected official to run his state as he sees fit, the federal government is looking for ways to force them to take the money—for the good of the people in that state, of course. All we need to do to see the future of free childcare is to look at the institution of public education, which is lagging behind other nations in preparing our children for the future. What are you willing to give up in exchange for “free” programs for your children? Are you ready to give your children over to the state to be raised? If not, visit the Parental Rights website for more information on what you can do to make your voice heard.