听力课堂TED音频栏目主要包括TED演讲的音频MP3及中英双语文稿，供各位英语爱好者学习使用。本文主要内容为演讲MP3+双语文稿:如何为养娃父母提供便利的托儿方案，希望你会喜欢！

【主讲人】Chris Bennett
企业家、儿童早教倡导者。家庭早教服务提供商Wonderschool首席执行官。

【演讲主题】A close-to-home solution for accessible childcare
儿童保育需要转型——但与其投资数十亿美元修建新建筑和学校，不如去探索附近居民的潜力。企业家克里斯·班尼特（Chris Bennett）提出了一种创新的方法来解决全球儿童教育短缺的问题，让家庭在自己的社区内也能获得安全、负担得起和高质量的选择。

【中英文稿】
This is Yoli. I went to her childcare program that she started out of her home in the community where I grew up. I was in her program when I was four. Over the years, she served hundreds of children in our community. Her program was so fun. We played outside, we played hide and seek, there was play dough, there were blocks. Yoli would ask us things like, “How are you feeling today? Are you feeling happy? Are you feeling sad? Are you feeling angry?” She really helped us make sense of the world. She really focused on communication. It was a mixed-age classroom. There were children that were infants, there were toddlers. The older children learned to lead, the younger children learned from the older children.
这是尤莉。 我以前会去她在家开设的托儿所，就在我长大的小区里。我是四岁时去的。这些年来，她在我们的小区服务了数百名孩子。她的项目很好玩。我们会去外面玩，我们会玩躲猫， 有黏土、有积木。尤莉会这样问我们：“你今天觉得如何？你觉得开心吗？你觉得伤心吗？你觉得生气吗？”她真的协助了我们理解这个世界。她很着重沟通。那是间混龄教室。那边有些孩子还是婴儿，也有学步儿童 。较年长的孩子会学习领导。较年幼的孩子向较年长的孩子学习。

As it turns out, we were doing incredibly important work in her program. People often think that the real learning starts in kindergarten, but 90 percent of our brains develop between the ages of zero and five. And far too many children don't get access to the type of early learning experiences I had in Yoli's program. Whether that's through a childcare program in a home, a center, a nanny, a caring parent, a grandparent. In fact, 175 million children age three to six don't get access at all. In the US, 51 percent of Americans live in areas called “childcare deserts,” where there's not enough childcare.
后来发现，我们在她的项目中做的事十分重要。一般认为，真正的学习始于幼儿园，但我们的大脑有九成是在零岁到五岁之间发展的。 且有太多孩子无法取得这种我在尤莉的项目中 取得的早期学习经验，不论是透过家中的托儿方案、托儿中心、褓姆、有爱心的父母，祖父母，都无法取得。事实上，有一亿七千五百万名三到六岁的孩子完全无法取得。在美国，有 51%的美国人住在所谓的“托儿沙漠”区，即托儿服务不足的地区。

And what this shortage does is it leaves parents having to choose between their careers and childcare. Even in places where there's free childcare or public pre-K options, there's not enough spots. So parents are forced to drive across town for options that don't meet their needs. They're forced to wait in these really long wait lists and succumb to lotteries to try to get into programs. And this shortage isn't due to us not trying. In the '70s, we pinned our hopes on television to solve our problems. Today, the touch-screen generation's learning how to count, how to read, using apps and games, but apps and games can't care for our children. Apps and games can't change diapers, can't ensure our children are getting access to the appropriate socio-emotional growth that they need. And there hasn't been enough money, enough teachers, enough classrooms. We've tried everything, we haven't been able to solve it.
这种短缺的后果就是父母必须要在职业和照顾孩子之间做取舍。就算有些地方有免费的托儿服务或公立的学前选项，名额还是不足。父母被迫要开车到镇的另一边，才有不符合他们需求的选项。他们被迫要去排非常长的等候名单，且还要看抽签结果决定他们能不能参加。造成这短缺的原因，并非我们没有去试着做。七十年代时，我们把解决问题的希望放在电视上。 现今，触控屏幕世代学习如何算数、如何阅读，是靠APP和游戏的。但APP和游戏无法照顾我们的孩子。APP和游戏无法换尿布，无法确保我们的孩子能取得他们需要的适当社会情绪成长。且没有足够的经费、足够的老师、足够的教室。我们什么都试过了，仍然无法解决问题。

So what if we could live in a world where we did have enough childcare, where parents had a multitude of options to choose from in their communities? Maybe the answer is right under our noses. Maybe Yoli was onto something: our homes.
如果在世界上能有足够的儿童照顾，父母在他们的小区内就有许多选项可以选择，会如何？也许答案就在眼前。也许尤莉走对了方向：我们的家。

Rather than investing trillions of dollars building new buildings, what if we empowered more people to start childcare programs out of their homes? Based on our data, it costs about $25,000 per spot if you create a commercial space for childcare. That’s 25,000 times each child you want to serve in that program, where you can do that for a fraction, a couple of hundred dollars, if you do it in a home-based program. And we can make it easier for parents to find these programs. Software is great for this. So with software, we can make it easy for folks to start programs, get connected to parents. Decades ago, who would have thought that we would be able to create a software network of drivers, connect them to millions of passengers and solve the transportation needs, or play a role in solving the transportation needs, of our fastest-growing cities? Or take our spare bedrooms and apartments and make them available online and create an industry that competes with the largest hotel chains?
与其花数兆美金去建造新大楼，我们为什么不协助更多人在他们家里提供托儿方案？根据我们的资料，每个名额约要花两万五千美金，这是创造托儿商业空间的成本。也就是两万五千美金乘以你在方案中服务的每个孩子，其实你可以只花一点点钱，只花几百美金，就可以在家中开设托儿方案。我们可以让父母更容易找到这些方案。此时软件很有用，我们可以用软件让大家轻松开设方案，和父母连结。 数十年前，谁会想到我们能创造出驾驶的软件网络，让他们能和数百万名乘客连结，解决交通需求，或者扮演解决交通需求的角色，协助快速成长的城市？谁又会想到可以把我们多余的卧室和公寓放到在线创造出一个产业，完全不输给最大的连锁饭店？

So my dream is to create that kind of network but for home-based childcare: to create a movement where we empower people to start childcare programs out of their homes and play a role in solving the challenges in their communities. These programs could be more affordable, they could be nimble, safe. They could be laboratories of innovation. And I'm one of the entrepreneurs who's working on advancing home-based childcare. And what I'm going to share with you is how I think we can turn that idea into a reality.
我的梦想就是创造出那种网络，用在居家托儿服务；发起一个运动，协助大家在自己家中开设托儿方案，扮演协助他们的小区解决难题的角色。这些方案会比较平价，会很灵活、安全，可以成为创新的实验室。我和一些企业家努力在发展居家托儿。而我接下来要和各位分享 我认为我们能如何实现这个想法。

So first off, when it comes to starting a program, we want to make sure that the program is safe, it's high quality, it's a program parents can trust. This is Christina. Christina started a childcare program out of her home in San Francisco. She started with her husband. When she decided to start a program, she had to get registered with the state. She got licensed by the state. They came out and visited her program, made sure she was operating a safe program. She was background-checked along with her husband. And if there's any issues that she experiences in her program, any violation, she shares this information with the state, and the state makes it publicly available. To make this work, we've got to make sure it's easy for parents to get this information when they're making a decision for their children.
首先，若要创办一个方案，我们要确保方案很安全，质量优良，是父母可以信赖的方案。这是克里斯廷娜。克里斯廷娜在她旧金山的家中开设了一个托儿方案。她和先生一起经营。当她决定要开设方案时，她得向州政府登记。她得到州政府的许可。他们会派人来看她的方案，确保她经营的方案是安全的。她和她先生的背景都被调查过。如果她的方案有任何问题，任何违规事件，她要把这些信息提供给州政府，州政府会把信息公开。要成功，我们要确保父母在为孩子做选择时，要很容易就能取得这些信息。

Along with this, we need more information about Christina's program. What's her background, what's her philosophy? What are her tuition rates? Who else is in the program? Is she operating a safe program? Is this a program parents can trust? Along with this, what do other parents think about the program who have been enrolled in the program? This is the type of information parents need when they're making this decision for their children. When operating a childcare program, it's not the same as driving a car, making your apartment available online or delivering groceries. It's really important we ensure that the programs that get created are safe, secure, and allow us to live up to the promise of early childhood education.
除此之外，也需要更多克里斯廷娜的方案的信息。她的背景是什么？她的理念是什么？她的学费收多少？还有谁参加这个方案？她经营的方案安全吗？父母能信赖这个方案吗？此外，以前参加过这个方案的其他父母对这个方案的看法如何？当父母要为孩子做决定时，就需要这样的信息。经营托儿方案不同于开车、把公寓放上网出租或杂货外送。很重要的是我们要确保设立的方案安全、没有危险，并能让我们能实践幼儿教育的承诺。

Lastly, when it comes to starting a childcare program we need to make it easier for folks to take the leap. There's this big misconception that starting a childcare program out of your home is expensive, and you can barely make a living doing so. But that's not true. The economics vary widely by location, by your home, by your background. It's really similar, from an economic standpoint, the way real estate works in terms of how rents work in different markets. For example, when Christina started her program, she was able to break even within three months of starting her program. And we're seeing folks start programs in studio apartments with one or two children in the program. And we're seeing a wide variety of different types of folks starting programs. We're seeing grandmothers or former K-12 teachers. We're seeing social workers, artists. We're seeing Montessori teachers who've been in the field for 20 years and realize the opportunity of running their own program. Folks who are into forestry and have master's degrees, former nurses, starting fully outdoor programs.
最后，在设立托儿方案方面，我们得让大家很容易就能跨出这一大步。有个很大的误解：在家里开设托儿方案是很花钱的，且很难靠此维生。但并不是这样的。经济情况的差异甚大，影响因素包括地点、你的家、你的背景。从经济的角度来看，它非常类似房地产运作的方式，房租在不同的市场中运作的方式。比如，当克里斯廷娜开设她的方案时，她在开业后的三个月内就能做到不赚不赔了。我们看到有人在套房里开设方案，方案只收一、两个孩童。且我们发现开设方案的人真的是形形色色。我们有看到祖母或前基础教育老师。我们有看到社工、艺术家。我们有看到在这个领域有二十年经验的蒙特梭利老师，他们发现有这个机会可以经营自己的方案。对山林有兴趣且有硕士学位的人，前护理师，开设完全户外的方案。

Going back to Christina. Christina was a former child therapist, and when she started her program with her husband, she quickly got to a point where she was earning six times as much income running her program than she was in her prior career. She's able to move to a single-family home in San Francisco to operate her program. And the big reason why she's able to do this is she's not having to incur the costs of commercial real estate. She's doing this out of her home. And her program is actually more affordable than programs nearby. It's a win-win for her and for the parents.
回到克里斯廷娜。克里斯廷娜以前是儿童治疗师，当她和她先生开设托儿方案时，她很快就 让托儿方案的收入达到前一份工作的六倍之多。 她后来搬到旧金山的一间独立房子经营她的方案。她能办到的主要原因，是因为她不用负担商业地产的成本。她在家里经营。且，她的方案比附近的方案还要平价。她和父母是双赢。

So I want to live in a world where there's more Christinas, where there's more Yolis. Where parents don't have to drive across town for programs that don't meet their needs, where parents don't have to drop out of the workforce to ensure their children are getting access to the vital early education our children need. A world where we can walk around our neighborhoods and tour a Spanish immersion program, a fully outdoor program, a science-based program and make a choice.
我希望世界上多一些克里斯廷娜，多一些尤莉。希望父母不用开车到镇的另一边，找到的方案还不符合他们的需求。希望父母不用离开劳动力，才能确保他们的孩子能取得孩子需要的重要幼儿教育。希望我们能在邻里各处走走，参观纯户外的西班牙文沉浸式教学方案，以科学为基础的方案，然后做出选择。

It's during these early years children learn to speak, they learn to communicate, they learn teamwork, they learn what it's like to start something and fail and try again. A lot of the skills I use as a CEO today, running my company, these are things I learned before I was five. These are the moments and experiences that make us who we are and make us human. And I can't think of anything more important than that.
孩子是在早年学会说话，学会沟通，学会团队合作，学会开始做一件事、失败、再尝试的滋味事物。现今，我身为执行长的许多技能，用来经营公司的技能，都是我在五岁以前学到的。是这些时刻和经验造就了现在的我们，与其他动物不同。我想不出还有什么比这更重要了。

Thank you.
谢谢。