Center-based day care, at its current level of funding, is meeting neither adult nor child needs. Parents, especially working mothers, need child care that is reliable, flexible, professional, and affordable, but day care is rarely flexible, has few accommodations for emergencies, and is often not satisfactory for the maximum development of children. In addition, parents may pay as much as 20 percent of their income for such services. Day care teachers need jobs with adequate salaries, decent hours, vacations and fringe benefits, pleasant and healthy working conditions, career ladders, and respect from their clients and from society in general. They get almost none of these things. Children have many personal, interpersonal, and educational-developmental needs. Few day care centers, minimally funded as they presently are, can meet children's needs. Problems, especially health problems and the problem of dehumanization, are most severe among younger children attending centers with the longest hours of operation. Although psychological studies indicate few negative effects of day care on participating children, methodological problems cast doubt on such findings. To alleviate some of the problems of day care, parents must stop the pattern of exploiting day care workers, and in addition, society must acknowledge the importance of child care and encourage men as well as women to raise the next generation. (RH)