Day 14

Three quick points:

1) They pronounced Mr. Marroquin's name as "Marrow Quinn." Could be, but I doubt it.

2) Speedbusters took us to the "third worst" place in terms of speeding in the City of Brookfield. Worst measured how? Average speed, number of speeders, tickets, accidents, injuries, what?

3) John Mercure. Last night their teaser warned us that our kids could be at risk at day care. This was a report you had to see to save your kids. So, it starts. Cue up the heart-wrenching sad piano music. John starts talking about this infant. Tiny feet, tiny hands. The father who said goodbye to his son and did not realize: it would be goodbye forever. So you get the idea that this child is going to be presented as an example of the kind of tragedy that the report is going to warn us against. If only he had known to do X, then the child might not have died. Here comes at last the reveal of what the report is about. So what does he say. The child's death was never explained. It happened while he was in daycare. Was the daycare responsible somehow? Um, well, it's John Mercure, so any important question basically goes unanwered. Insert sound of crickets. No, the solo piano and photos of a dead child, the scary teaser, were all there for a cheap emotional bait-and-switch. After getting this far, Mercure says that other parents had complaints against the daycare? Abuse? Safety issues? Hours too short? Too expensive? Shortage of crayons? John leaves the innuendo hanging that these complaints might have something to do with unexplained death. Then the transition to the real topic. When we wanted to learn more, we found out that (1) there are very few inspectors to look at all the licensed daycares. (Mercure asks, would you feel a lot better if there were twice as many inspectors? Surprise, the answer's yes! Good leading question, John.) Also, (2) there is no website or helpful staff that will help parents find out quickly what the record of a given daycare is. He points out that they have ways to inspect the records of all sorts of other kinds of licensees, like manicurists.

Well, there was a potential story here, had Johnny tried to develop it, rather than lather on sentiment through an unconnected tragedy. Is it an important issue? How many kids in daycare? How many deaths, illnesses, injuries, or ill effects of any type attributable to bad day care? What do the inspectors actually do, are they effective? What constitutes a regulatory violation. If a violation is found, what happens? What would be the effect of more enforcement? How do we make daycare better? Do we need to promote alternatives to daycare, provide greater subsidies for daycare? This is a compelling topic. For John to poop on.