This is the Wilmington Standard Daily Update for Friday January 16th, 2026.

A bipartisan task force created by Governor Josh Stein reported that more child care providers closed than opened in our state in 2025.  Governor Stein’s answer is predictable – we need more state and federal money sent to child care. 

Brian Balfour, of the John Lock Foundation, disagrees, saying that whenever government gets involved in any service, the prices always skyrocket.  The solution is not more government money, he says, but unraveling government interventions that make it so expensive in the first place. 

The larger question, though, is why are children being put into child care facilities in the first place?  A 2025 Pew Research article indicates that both adults and teens tend to think that at least one parent should be home taking of the children.  While the teens generally favored the mom staying home, in the end it really did not matter to them – as long as they could rely on one parent always being there.  

Instead of trying to find ways to expand child care access, what would happen if we started focusing on strengthening families.  We can start by reducing and eliminating tax burdens across the board to make it easier to raise a family on a single income.  We can reduce health care costs by allowing insurance companies to compete across state lines so parents do not have to work just to get the insurance benefits.  We need to open up new avenues of energy access to make power cheaper and more affordable to families and industry.  When parents need to work – we need to make it easier for relatives and churches to provide these services without having to go through the government hoops that our state currently has in place.  In short, instead of pouring money into child care, government needs to step away so families can thrive on their own.

But even more , families need to break the bond of ever increasing spending – ever increasing needs for the latest things.  Children do not need the latest iPhone to get by – if they even need a cellphone in the first place.  Parents do not need the latest automobile.  Families do not need to live in the biggest home.  Moms and dads need to realize that the most important thing they can do is not their career or their own self-fulfillment, but simply being a mom or dad who is a major part of their kids life – a large part of which is finding ways for one of them to stay home.

Everything else is secondary.

For the Wilmington Standard, I’m Reuel Sample.  Thanks for listening.