Let the Little Children Come to Me
A Statement
Issued by the United States Catholic Conference
November 10, 1976
1. American families live under many strong pressures today. These
pressures arise from contemporary social and economic conditions and from
the prevalence of secularistic values.
2. Family separation is commonplace and takes various forms. Young
families often live far away from relatives. In a growing number of
families, father and mother both work outside the home and have little time
to spend with their children at the end of the working day. There is a large
number of single parents who must struggle to maintain both job and family.
More than six million children of preschool age have mothers who also work
outside the home. Many young children spend most of their waking hours in
day-care centers or under the supervision of baby sitters—or with virtually
no supervision at all. Divorce has touched the life of one child in three.
Other elements in the crisis of the American family include frequent
relocation, unemployment, poverty, and inadequate health care which afflict
the deprived and disadvantaged.
3. Many things are needed for families to cope successfully with such
conditions. Here we speak of the need for sound principles and effective
programs to help parents raise and educate very young children. As matters
stand, many American families find it difficult at best to be settings in
which sound values are formed, personal growth occurs, and care is rendered.
Yet without family stability, parental guidance, and the cooperation of a
variety of institutions and agencies in the community, children cannot
experience wholesome development—spiritual, physical, emotional, and
intellectual.
4. The foundations of attitudes about human relationships and of
social and religious values are laid before a child reaches school age. It
is therefore profoundly important that from conception to age seven,
children have opportunities to grow in a healthy, loving family environment.
This is necessary for the present well-being of children, for the sake of
the families they will form in the future, and for the present and future
welfare of society itself.
5. In the past it was reasonable to assume that the extended family,
closely knit neighborhood communities, and the relationship between church
and family would provide a satisfactory setting for early childhood care and
education. This cannot be taken for granted today. In seeking to improve the
conditions of family life, society and the church must direct a major part
of their concern and effort to very young children and their parents.
6. Though the environment in which people live in their early years is
often a source of problems and conflicts in adulthood, society seems more
interested in trying to correct adult problems than in adopting realistic
measures to prevent them in early childhood. Remedies are certainly needed
for the problems of adults. But assisting families with young children today
would reduce the need for remedial and rehabilitative programs for adults
tomorrow.
7. Such efforts should begin with programs for prospective parents. We
have in mind programs to strengthen family life, inform future parents about
child development, and provide means for proper child care and education.
Community agencies are aware of the needs and problems, but up to now they
have not been able to deliver meaningful assistance to more than a minority
of families and children who need it. While continuing to support such
efforts, therefore, the Church also must reaffirm its own commitment to
early childhood care and learning and to education for parenthood.
8. It is a fundamental tenet of Christian faith that each individual
is created by God and uniquely gifted with a multitude of capabilities which
can be developed for his or her own happiness and the good of the community.
A wholesome environment, including the family itself, and a variety of
enriching opportunities for education and formation from conception to
adulthood, is essential for individuals to develop and use their
capabilities.
9. Parents and families have the primary responsibility for fostering
the growth and education of young children; "for the family is... the
principal school of social virtues which are necessary to every society"
(Declaration on Christian Education, 7). The relationships which parents
establish with their children from the very first moments of their lives
onward are crucial to the quality of life of their offspring—as infants,
children, and eventually as adults (General Catechetical Directory, 78). But
parents need help in carrying out their responsibilities. Others in the
family, the Church, and the community at large have vital roles in the early
growth and development of children. Older brothers and sisters, relatives,
family friends, teachers, child-care professionals, parish and community
leaders, and all others in a position to influence the young should be aware
that they share with parents the awesome duty of providing the best in care
and education.
10. Thus the task essentially involves a sharing of responsibility.
"As well as the rights of parents, and of those to whom parents entrust some
share in their duty to educate, there are certain duties and rights vested
in civil society inasmuch as it is its function to provide for the common
good in temporal matters" (Declaration on Christian Education, 3). When
resources for the proper care and education of young children are lacking in
the family and cannot be provided there, or when a child has reached the
point at which formal peer group experiences are desirable, there is an
important role for publicly funded services provided through privately or
publicly directed agencies in accord with parental needs and wishes. Such
agencies should, however, acknowledge the prior rights of parents and
families and give them a real voice in determining the values and attitudes
they will seek to foster.
11. As the living community of the faithful, following the risen
Christ, the Church is committed to integral human development. This requires
it to "offer its assistance to all peoples for the promotion of a
well-balanced perfection of the human personality, for the good of society
in this world, and for the development of a world more worthy of humanity"
(ibid.). As part of its contemporary witness to Christian values and moral
education, the Church has a significant interest—an interest we here
affirm—in early childhood care and education.
12. As a community, we are pledged to support the growth in faith of
all who have been baptized into membership in the body of Christ. But living
faith can only be nurtured in children through interaction with their
parents and other members of the Christian community who seek to enrich the
lives of the young by communicating the Gospel message through programs of
religious education and through the witness of their own dedicated lives,
which is of vital importance. Individuals have a responsibility to grow in
the faith—and the faith community has a responsibility to help them. The
Church thus joins parents and society in a mutual concern for quality care
and education of the very young.
13. As their birthright in human society, all children are entitled to
the best efforts of us all in regard to their care and education. Much lip
service is paid to this principle, but it is far from being realized in the
United States today. Families, professionals in the field, and public and
private agencies have made encouraging progress, but many needs in the area
of early childhood care and education have not been addressed and satisfied.
14. Far more, for example, must be done to prepare men and women for
parenthood. Programs should begin well before marriage and the birth of
children. Beyond that, more resources, creativity, and commitment must be
expended in meeting the needs of families and children. Though all children
and families have the same basic needs and rights in this regard, some
require our particular attention. These include single parents and their
children; children in families where both parents work outside the home;
abused and neglected children and their parents; families which must
relocate frequently and as a result may lack opportunity for participation
in community life and continuity in educational and formational programs for
their children; handicapped children and their families; educationally
disadvantaged children and exceptional children; children of bilingual and
bicultural families; children in hospitals and child-care institutions and
their parents.
15. In light of the needs, we endorse efforts within the Church which
have among their purposes:
16. To strengthen and support Christian family life as a high ideal
and priority in the Church and society by recognizing the need for parents
to grow in their relationship with each other, with their children, with the
Church, and with the community at large;
17. To help parents lead their children to develop and appreciate
Christian values and practice Christian virtues, through which they will
reach the fullness of Christian maturity and to be active in their support
of those agencies in the Church and society which contribute to the
development of those values and virtues;
18. To help single parents, working mothers, and families where both
parents work outside the home obtain for their children child care and
education which reflect their own best values and ideals;
19. To make guidance concerning early childhood development and
religious formation part of the preparation which parents receive before the
baptism of their children, beginning, if possible, several months before the
baptism is to take place and consistently thereafter;
20. To make early education for parenthood available to engaged
couples and also to adolescents as part of their general education;
21. To meet the special needs for care and education which
educationally disadvantaged, exceptional, handicapped, abused, orphaned, or
separated children have during their crucial early years;
22. To make adequately staffed and funded religious education
programs, appropriate in purpose and design to their ages and needs,
available to all children in parish communities;
23. To institute nursery school, preschool, and kindergarten programs
and day-care centers in Catholic parishes where community needs warrant
them.
24. Beyond this, we encourage parents in their efforts "to create a
family atmosphere, inspired by love and devotion to God and their neighbors,
which will promote an integrated personal and social education of their
children" (Declaration on Christian Education, 3).
25. We ask that persons responsible for Christian education make
special efforts to provide expectant parents, parents of young children, and
all who influence the young, with programs to enrich their spiritual growth
and better equip them for the demanding vocation of nurturing a new
generation.
26. We encourage collaboration among diocesan agencies in establishing
programs of early childhood care and education under Church auspices, as
well as their cooperation in this area with other public and private
agencies.
27. We point out the need for governmental solutions for the dilemma
of young mothers who feel forced to choose between personally caring for
their young children at home and going to join the labor force in order to
provide economic necessities for these same children.
28. We urge that federal, state, and local governments cooperate with
families, with the Church, and with other concerned parties in meeting young
children's need for care and education. In this regard we look to government
for meaningful legislation, adequate funding, and competent and concerned
administration.
29. Finally, we urge all members of the Church and society to support
constructive efforts on behalf of families and family life; to contribute in
whatever ways are open to them in the development of new programs and
resources for quality child care and education; and to join us in prayer for
the success of our collective efforts to enrich the quality of life of
parents and their children.
