Letter: Healthy kids become healthy adults

Kamloops This Week / June 13, 2019

Editor:

Re: Fred Bugden’s letter of June 12, in which he decries the idea of $10-a-day day care, subsidized by taxpayers (‘I should not be forced to pay for your kids’):

I don’t want to live in a world where only the wealthy can procreate, with the assumption we can all plan our lives.

My partner and I waited until we were “financially stable” to have our kid.

We had a plan. We moved to Kamloops for a better life and then, poof, life happened.

After buying our first home, my partner’s job of 13 years disappeared.

On to plan B. We were fortunate to recover, but others may not be so lucky. And nobody should be shut out of having a family because of an income bracket.

Disability, illness, death of a loved one and finances can change our lives on a whim.

Believe it or not, we were all once kids.

I grew up in a very different time.

Families could survive on one income. They could afford homes And villages really did raise children.

My parents had four kids and had to work multiple jobs and raise us with the help and support of families and neighbours.

My grandparents crossed the ocean and arrived in Canada with nothing but a little hope and two kids in tow.

I’m grateful for their sacrifices and the support of their community. Most of all, I’m pretty darn grateful they had me, even though they couldn’t “afford” me.

The same goes for letter writer Bugden.

No matter what life he lived, I am grateful he exists and is in a position to choose a lifestyle that works for him, even if it is drastically different from mine.

We all benefit from paying taxes, regardless of whether it affects us directly.

I enjoy knowing my community has my back in case plans A, B or C fall through.

People are going to procreate. It’s what we humans tend to do.

The more support families get, the healthier those kids become.

Those healthy kids become healthy adults.

It is no coincidence that the happiest countries on earth also have high taxes and support for families, including affordable child care.

Not many people plan to be subsidized, but life sometimes has a plan of its own.

James Lee

Kamloops