Since the end of World War II the economics of the workplace and the lack of quality child care encouraged fathers to work and mothers to stay at home while the children were young. Now, however, like my parents even then, mother and father both work, sometimes two jobs.

Roadblocks that separate parents from children need to be overcome. When employees encounter roadblocks, they seem arbitrary, insurmountable, beyond our control: bus schedules; strict factory-floor safety rules; union rules; outside environments or unhealthy conditions for children or uncooperative co-workers.

Given these roadblocks is there a place where business and individual efforts can address them? The need to do so is blatant.

Brain development research shows that at birth the neurons in the brain begin forming “tentative connections.” Through cementing and discarding connections the brain becomes “hardwired.” By age 3, roughly 85% of the brain’s core structure will be formed. Public spending that supports child development, by contrast, is inverted. Public spending averages $1,472 per child per year for children 0-3 years while for children 6-18, it averages $6,567 per child per year: too late.

In 1990, a bipartisan National Education Summit was convened by then-President George H. W. Bush and the National Governor’s Association led by then-Governor Bill Clinton, its first declared goal: By the year 2000, all children will start school ready to learn. We did not make it. So, if public spending is not there and the workplace won’t let nurturing in, what can we do? Take it to the children.