What do children need to grow and develop? And how can their needs be met when parents
work? Emphasizing the importance of parental choice, quality of care, and work
opportunities, economist Jane Waldfogel guides readers through the maze of social science
research evidence to offer comprehensive answers and a vision for change. Drawing on the
evidence, Waldfogel proposes a bold new plan to better meet the needs of children in
working families, from birth through adolescence, while respecting the core values of choice …

Regardless of its validity, many adults share a belief that today's youth face an inauspicious
future. Drugs, sex, violence, disintegration of the nuclear family, technology that replaces
interpersonal relationships—that's what you hear in the news. The media, through its
dramatization of the dangers and risks children confront and pose, have created a well-
established image of disenfranchised, hostile, and often-destructive children and
adolescents. This image ignores the many children who are thriving as well as the possibility …