Winter Dilemma
RAJE.T. 1Di[GEsir
Specially compiled by The Jerusalem Post
Frigid temperatures chill working parents in need of child care.
KIMBERLY UFTON and JENNIFER FINER STAFF WRITERS
I
ast week's record shivers
closed most schools
throughout Michigan,
leaving working parents
throughout the state in a lurch.
Public relations executive
Barbara Kenig worked from
home to be near her 7-year-old
son. Wendy Shepherd-Bates, co-
ordinator for the Michigan Wor-
thy Wage Coalition, attended a
meeting with two young chil-
dren in tow.
My Place For Kids, which op-
erates the only two licensed
drop-in facilities in Oakland
County, tripled its usual num-
bers both days of the sub-zero
temperatures.
In an era where the family
structure is dramatically chang-
ing, and two-parent and single-
parent working families are
becoming the norm, experts are
surprised that so few options re-
ally are available in emergency
situations.
"When I was growing up, my
family lived near each other;
and my grandparents never
spent winters in Florida," said
Paulette Chaplin, director of the
Oakland County Child Care
Council. "You just don't have
families living as close to each
other anymore.
"The key is that you have to
develop your own contingency
plan," Ms. Chaplin said.
In Oakland County, emer-
gency planning for children
is not such an easy task. Open-
ing a drop-in child-care center
is a risky business, and Rick
Shaye, who opened My Place 10
years ago, is the only operator
in town.
A former advertising execu-
tive, Mr. Shaye grew tired of
traveling for work and not be-
ing closer to his children,
Jonathan, now 11, and Tanya,
15.
After taking his family with
him on a business trip to Min-
neapolis, Mr. Shaye and his
wife, Lynne, opted to put every-
thing they had into this busi-
ness. The first day, just one child
showed up.
Since, he has been able to
open two facilities — one in
West Bloomfield and one in
Birmingham. About 500,000
children ages 2 months to 12
years have used the facilities.
"I'm not getting rich from it,"
Mr. Shaye said. "But my
lifestyle is better. I have more
time with my family."
Ms. Shepherd-Bates has
worked in the child-care profes-
sion for 20 years. She said
America needs quality child care
but added that "business lead-
ers don't look at it as important."
"Our society is absolutely not
set up for this," Ms. Shepherd-
Barbara Kenig, who owns In
The Public Eye, realizes her sit-
uation is unique. When she
worked for someone else, she of-
ten was forced to take her elder
son, Andy Waisha, with her to
work.
"Any parent that works has
to have reliable resources," she
said. "It is best if you have the
flexibility to stay home."
If parents and child-care
workers agree on one thing, it is
that personal back-up plans are
crucial. Poor weather conditions
can mean no one will get into an
Inflation At 11.25 Percent
The final inflation figure for
1993 reached 11.25 percent,
ifollowing last month's 0.8 per-
cent rise in the Consumer
1Price Index as housing prices
lcontinued climbing. Inflation
in 1992 was 9.4 percent.
Both government and pri-
vate economists attributed last
year's two-digit inflation to
high housing prices which in-
creased by nearly a quarter.
Last month alone, housing
contributed almost two-thirds
to the index.
Recently, the Treasury has II')
been preparing a series of t i
measures aimed at stemming
runaway housing prices,
which will include tax cuts for
building materials, fee reduc-
tions and increasing the
amount of available lands in
high-demand areas.
Ace Distributes Products
4Ace, a do-it-yourself chain, has
' received the exclusive conces-
,1 sion to import and distribute
the U.S.-based Intermetro's
products in Israel.
1 Intermetro is a leading com-
pany in the do-it-yourself fiir-
i niture field. The company,
which owns 110 registered
1
patents, markets its products
in Europe and Asia.
The company's products are
sold to a wide variety of in- ir
dustries, including food,
health, electronics and offices.
The company's sales are esti-
mated at $1 billion.
'93 Retail Trade Up
Children play at My Place.
Bates said. "Why? I don't know.
There are no automatic back-up
plans for parents who need care.
And I don't know why no one is
pushing for it."
Perhaps few lobby for better
options because state regula-
tions for setting up contingency
child-care programs are so strict.
Several operators have tried un-
successfully to set up similar
programs to My Place.
To be licensed, a drop-in fa-
cility must meet requirements
similar to teaching sites. The ra-
tio of child-care workers to chil-
dren is 4 to 1 for those under age
10, and 10 to 1 for those 10 years
and older.
In the future, Mr. Shaye said,
companies will have no choice
but to implement on-site care
for day-care and emergency sit-
uations.
office. A sick child cannot go to
day care.
Facilities — like the Jewish
Community Center Child De-
velopment Department — have
tried to accommodate working
parents. Several temples and
synagogues offer pre-school and
nursery programs. But none
provides babysitting services.
For a few years, the JCC,
which is not a drop-in facility,
offered snow insurance in
which parents could pre-pay
and drop children off when
school was closed because of the
weather.
The JCC stopped offering
snow insurance last year after
a handful of parents signed up
for the program. And until last
week, there had been very few
snow days in the past three
years.
❑
Commerce Secretary Asks
Jordan To Call Off Boycott
U.S. Commerce Secretary
Ronald Brown called on Jordan
last week to help end the Arab
boycott of Israel, saying it was
hurting American business.
"American companies can no
longer be penalized for doing
— $1 EQUALS 2.975 NIS (shekels) - Close Price 1/19194 —
business just across the
river," Mr. Brown said after ar-
riving in Amman from Saudi
Arabia. "As secretary of com-
merce of the United States, my
principal mission is to support
and be a strong advocate for
American business and indus-
try."
He has repeatedly called for
an end to the boycott while on
his Middle East tour.
Mr. Brown arrived in Israel
BOYCOTT page 42
Retail trade increased by 8 to
9 percent in real terms last
year compared to 1992, the
Central Bureau of Statistics
reported last week.
Sales grew 1-2 percent dur-
ing the fourth quarter follow-
ing a 4 percent increase during
the previous quarter. Food
sales grew by a similar rate
during the second half of the
year, with third-quarter fig-
ures up 4 percent and fourth-
o quarter figures up 1 percent.
' Annual food sales rose be-
tween 7 percent and 8 percent
compared to 1992.
Retail sales of textiles and
clothing shot up 16 percent
last year compared to the pre-
vious year, while durable
goods sales, excluding cars,
grew a more moderate 6 per-
cent.
According to the bureau, re-
tail store sales represent 25
percent of all private con-
sumption expenditures and 30
percent of all food expendi-
tures.
lAl-Federal Express Deal
Israel Aircraft Industries an-
nounced it has signed a three-
!, year contract worth $5 million
with U.S.-based internation-
al freight forwarder Federal
1lExpress.
11 According to the three-year
contract, signed earlier this
month, IAI's Mashav plant
Will provide maintenance ser-
vices, replacement parts and
accessories for Federal Ex-
press' APU auxiliary engines.
Federal Express operates
about 200 planes. The APU
units are used to power plane
systems when the main en-
gines are not in use on the
ground.
Polish Delegation To Visit
Minister Stanislaw Popiolek
is scheduled to lead senior rep-
resentatives of his country's
telecommunications industry
on a visit here later this month
as guests of the Export Insti-
tute.
The nine-member delega-
tion will look at possibilities of
attracting Israeli participation
in projects to improve Poland's
telecommunications systems.
The delegation is scheduled
to visit Adacom, Elbit, Degem,
Motorola, Tetrad, Fibronics,
Tadiran and Israel Aircraft In-
dustries. The delegation will
make a presentation about
Poland's telecommunications
needs before local industrial-
ists on January 25 at the Tel
Aviv Hilton.
Tadiran Moves Into Bulgaria
Tadiran Telecommunica-
tions announced it has signed
an agreement with Bulgarian
Telecom to supply the nation-
al telephone provider with di-
rectory assistance for data
retrieval systems.
Tadiran reported that the
system is already undergoing
testing in Bulgaria. This is the
first sale of the system outside
of Israel, but it is not Tadiran's
first time in Bulgaria.
In 1992, the firm sold the
knowhow for telephone pro-
duction to the TTT concern,
which began operating a tele-
phone producing factory in
1993.
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