Time to stop kissing babies and treating kids as campaign props

Whatever side wins on Nov. 3, both parties must get real about supporting policies to allow children to live and thrive

By Terri J. Sabol

Fewer than only 0.01% of the total words spoken during two presidential debates were about children and families. Yet, people under age 18 representing 22% of the population (73 million). President Donald J. Trump and former vice president Joe Biden used words about the economy four times as much as they mentioned children and families.

So, do politicians not care about children?

Not exactly. Few images better come to mind about campaign trails than politicians kissing babies. This practice dates back to Andrew Jackson in 1833 when a woman handed her baby to Jackson and he is quoted as saying “Ah! There is a fine specimen of American childhood. I think, Madam, your boy will make a fine man someday.” Then Jackson promptly handed his baby to a member of his cabinet, General Easton and said quickly “Eaton, kiss him?” who obligingly gave the child an air kiss.

Since then, presidential candidates have engaged in the practice of kissing babies, playing with toddlers at playgrounds, and reading picture books in elementary schools. Today, during a coronavirus pandemic there is less kissing, but the practice of using children as symbols for the nation, and a gut check on our nation’s values, remains.

Just this week, Melania Trump said, “children watching and learning about politics in our country deserve a better display of political responsibility.”

On the other side, The Lincoln Project, a political action committee run by Republicans dedicated to defeating Trump, has used the same messaging. The group is using a series of clips where Trump is talking down to women with the messaging, “Your daughters are listening.”

There is no doubt that children and families are powerful symbols on the campaign trail. And both parties claim they are the party of the family, albeit with very different approaches rooted in their differing beliefs about the autonomy of the individual, virtue of work, and the primacy of the family.

Our children deserve better and the vibrancy and vitality of our nation depends on our investment in young children today.

The left tends to focus on the government’s role on protecting and supporting families through public support in programs like safety net programs and universal childcare support. The right tends to focus on the role of government in unburdening families with less regulation and taxes, since families are expected to play the primary role in socializing their children and ensuring their well-being.

Contradictions abound across both parties: The most glaring inconsistency is the Trump administration’s border separation policy, where court documents recently demonstrated that 545 children have still not been reunited with their families. This policy is in direct opposition with the core values of the Republican party which has consistently touted that the family is the “bedrock of the nation” and that our policies should always “promote and strengthen that most sacred bond.”

It seems that sacred bond only applies to some, not all.

In the end, our American policies for children and families are weak, especially compared with other countries. We offer no paid parental leave, a disjointed and unaffordable network of childcare options from birth to age 5, and strict work requirements for the few federal benefits that we do have for families with young children.

Even though decades of evidence suggest that early investment in young children pays off multiple times over in the long-term, we still don’t invest in our children. This is a failing of both parties. We use children as props and then promptly put them back in the proverbial toy box when the actual policymaking occurs.

In 2016, the Trump administration campaigned on child and family policy, largely led by the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump. And the proposed policy at the time was strong, including paid family leave and subsidized childcare. Yet four years later, the United States has yet to introduce federally mandated paid parental leave and those subsidized child care payments are few and far between.

This summer, Biden announced a $775 Billion Plan to support children and families. His plan included a national pre-K for all children ages 3 and 4, $8,000 childcare tax credit per child, financing for the construction of new childcare facilities, and increased pay for childcare workers. The plan explicitly focuses on addressing the childcare crisis brought on by the coronavirus by providing a federal bailout or private childcare programs. Again, the plan sounds good, but will it be actualized were Biden to win the candidacy?

To quote Nelson Mandela “Our children are the rock on which our future will be built, our greatest asset as a nation. They will be the leaders of our country, the creators of our national wealth who care for and protect our people.”

When the dust settles on our nation, it’s time to stop using children as props and start treating them as the pillars of our country. We need to hold our policymakers accountable for enacting policies for young children and families. Our children deserve better and the vibrancy and vitality of our nation depends on our investment in young children today.

Terri J. Sabol, Ph.D., a Public Voices Fellow of The OpEd Project, is an assistant professor in human development and social policy and faculty fellow at the institute for policy research at Northwestern University.