F Those Kids?!!?!

There’s a headline going around saying we “can’t afford childcare.”

But let’s be honest about what that really means.

Because somehow, there’s always money for war.
 Always money when it’s urgent enough.
 But when it comes to families, suddenly it’s “too expensive.”

In this episode, I break down why childcare isn’t a side issue — it’s a workforce issue. If people can’t afford childcare, they can’t afford to work. It’s that simple.

And I share my own story — serving in the military and still having to pick up a second job just to pay for childcare.

That was over 20 years ago.

And here we are again, having the same conversation.

This isn’t about politics.
 It’s about priorities.
 And right now, the system still isn’t working for working people.

Listen now. Then ask yourself: who is this system really working for?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Yesterday, the leader of the freed world, quotation marks, got on the television and said Fdos kids. He basically said Fdos Kids. Well, he didn't say it like that. What he said was, We can't afford childcare. We're we're funding wars. You can't afford childcare because you're too busy funding wars. What? He got on TV and he said, you know, childcare is a state issue. We got this war going on. We can't take care of everything. We're going to raise your taxes. Blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. It just it really hit me like a ton of works because one, priorities. There is always money for war. I still remember the song by Tupac. We got money for war, but we can't feed the poor. There's always money for war. There's always money for defense. There's always money when it's urgent enough. But when it comes to childcare, suddenly we don't have the money. It's too expensive. And let me tell you, it is expensive. But I want people to understand, and this is part of my platform, what I've been doing in this run as Georgia Labor Commissioner, is that childcare has to stop being treating like a side issue. Childcare is a workforce issue. We cannot talk about people working without talking about who is watching the children, who is protecting our kids. We cannot talk about job shortages while ignoring the fact that people literally cannot afford to work. This is not a personal problem. This is a system problem, especially when childcare is the same amount as some people's car payments and mortgages and rent. And I know this personally. When I was in the military, when I served this country, after getting out of a war, I couldn't afford childcare. I could not afford childcare. I was literally serving the country. I had literally just left serving a war, and I had to get a part-time job as a waitress in order to afford childcare. Here, I keep repeating this because I want you to understand how outrageous this is. Working part-time after working full-time for the United States military, just so that someone can watch my child. And this is over 20 years ago. I just want to be clear. I served, I served during the Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation During Freedom. So this is over 20 years ago. My son is currently serving in the Army, and I don't even know what we're calling this war. I don't know the proper name for it just yet. But we're in another war and we're having the same conversations and we're also having the same excuses. Families are trying to figure out how to make it all work. So when I hear we can't afford childcare, what I actually hear is we've decided that childcare is not an important enough issue for us. Figure it out on your own. People are paying for child care with missed opportunities. People are paying for child care by leaving the workforce. People are paying for child care, working multiple jobs. And there's a lot of us who are paying for child care and burning out trying to do it all. That's the hidden cost of what childcare is. And that is what's costing our entire economy. And this is why I'm running for Labor Commissioner. This office touches the workforce every single day. And if we're serious about getting people back to work, if we're serious about filling these jobs, if we're serious about building a real economy, if we're serious about making a Georgia where work works for everyone, we have to start treating childcare like the infrastructure it is. It's not a luxury, it's not an afterthought, it's not something we push off on families to figure out alone. Real job placement means understanding what impacts real life. And real lives include childcare. I will never be okay operating in a system where childcare is optional, where we have to rely on our grandmothers and our pop pops to try to watch our kids real quick while we go to work. There's a story that has stayed with me about a young lady who was so desperate for a job after being out of work for so long. When she finally got the phone call, they told her she had to start tomorrow or she would not be able to start at all. She took it to the social media to look for a sitter. Fast forward, the sitter, you know, a stranger decided to take the child for her because she also understood the struggle of being a single mom and said, I'll watch your kid for you. I got you. The village showed up for this woman. However, the woman who was watching her child had a dog and the dog ended up mauling the child to death. Childcare is a workforce issue. This woman was so desperate for someone to watch her kids so she can start this job to support that same child. Childcare is not optional, and we have to stop treating like that. People are saying, F those kids. They're saying F you too. And I don't accept that. Work should work for everyone. And right now it doesn't. My name is Zicki Pochet, and I wanted to become Georgia's next labor commissioner because I understand what it's like to be a living, breathing, working Georgian with a system that makes sure that you are not equipped to do your very best, but expect you to do your very best. And that stops when I take over this office.