Two Pyramids, One Truth: Child Care Is Essential

By Susan Brown | July 10, 2025

A Dual Hierarchy of Human and Economic Thriving

When we talk about what makes families, communities, and economies thrive, child care is too often treated as a side issue – a personal responsibility or a private struggle.

But in reality, child care is foundational.

It’s what makes everything else possible. It’s what allows children to grow, parents to earn, and economies to function.

At Kids Co., we believe it’s time to reframe child care, not as a benefit or backup plan, but as a public good and economic necessity. By placing child care at the base of two hierarchies – one rooted in human needs, and the other in economic health – we see how deeply it touches every aspect of our shared future.

The Hierarchy of Human Needs: Why Child Care Comes First

We’re all familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – a psychological theory explaining how humans must meet basic needs before reaching higher ones like achievement and purpose.

But let’s be honest: none of it happens without child care.

When we build Maslow’s hierarchy with child care as the true base, it looks like this:

Child Care: Enables families to go to work and supports children’s development.
Physiological Needs: Families can access food, housing, and rest when child care is in place.
Safety Needs: Parents can focus on their jobs knowing their children are safe and nurtured.
Love and Belongingness: Children build secure attachments; families build community.
Esteem and Self-Worth: Parents feel competent and supported; children build confidence.
Self-Actualization: The ultimate outcome of stable, cared-for families and prepared future workers. Realizing one’s full potential, creativity, and personal growth made possible by family stability and access to care. Child care is more than a path to self-actualization, it’s how we build the dignified, joyful lives every family deserves.

It’s not just a support. It’s the launchpad.

The Hierarchy of a Healthy Economy: Built on Child Care

Now let’s look at the economy. Child care allows people to work, train, lead, and innovate. Without it, the entire system becomes more fragile.

Here’s how a thriving economy stacks up when we acknowledge child care as essential infrastructure:

Labor Force Participation & Productivity: Child care enables adults to work, earn, and contribute – reliably and consistently.
Stability & Resilience: Families and local economies are more resilient because when parents have access to affordable, reliable child care, they can maintain employment, plan for the future, and bounce back from hardship.
Human Capital Development: Early childhood education is one of the smartest investments we can make. It supports social-emotional development and builds the foundation for lifelong learning and earning.
Innovation & Growth: Freed from the stress of unreliable care, parents can lead, create, and build. Parents can pursue advancement, entrepreneurship, or higher wages without fear of losing the very care that makes those steps possible.
Equity & Economic Justice: When child care is accessible to all – not just the wealthy or well-connected – we create an economy where everyone has a fair shot at success.

Child care isn’t a luxury. It’s the root system for a healthy, equitable, future-ready economy.

Where These Two Hierarchies Meet

These dual pyramids – one personal, one economic – reinforce each other. A parent with access to quality, affordable child care can pursue work, education, rest, and community. A society that values child care strengthens families, its economy, and its future.

When we fail to invest in child care, the consequences ripple through both hierarchies:

Parents are pushed out of work
Children miss critical developmental windows
Employers lose productivity
The economy stumbles.

But when we do invest, everyone rises.

Just imagine – for a single mom working a night shift, for a dad training to become a nurse, for a family trying to rebuild after a layoff – child care is not a perk. It’s the oxygen that allows the rest of life to happen.

Let’s Build an Economy That Works for Families

At Kids Co., we’ve seen firsthand what happens when child care is stable, trusted, and truly accessible:

Children thrive
Families grow stronger and more economically stable
Communities prosper

As we reimagine post-pandemic recovery, close gender wage gaps, and address racial and economic injustice, let’s start with what’s foundational. Let’s build from the base.