Frank Pallone: “Head Start now and Early Start and the legislation that the gentleman has proposed for expanding Early Start, basically…”

“Head Start now and Early Start and the legislation that the gentleman has proposed for expanding Early Start, basically it is not just a situation where we are providing child care; we are also providing parents with parenting skills and families with support skills. I have seen in the Head Start programs where they try to get the parents involved. It is amazing to me sometimes how little some parents know about basically raising kids or doing certain things. I remember when I was in the hospital when my first child was born, my daughter Rose Marie. And at that time they had not changed the insurance yet so you were able to stay a few extra days in the hospital and then, of course, we got into the whole thing with the HMOs and the managed care tried to cut back on that. We had to pass a law to extend the days again. But they would have programs with the mothers and some fathers, too, where they would teach you how to bathe the child or do different things. I was surprised because a lot of people really did not know how to do some of these things.”