Right before Mother’s Day, I had the pleasure of joining a group of MomsRising volunteers on Capital Hill and observing how the moms use their outdoor voices to urge the Congress to put families before billionaires. During the event, I also had the opportunity to connect with reporters from NBC and shared why it’s important to show up and speak up right now.

Because it was so close to Mother’s Day, I couldn’t help but start thinking about what real mothers really want for their children. 

The Trump administration wants women to have more babies, and is considering pronatalist policies such as awarding $5,000 for every birth and a medal to moms who have at least six children. 

As a mother of two, I can say that the $5,000 “baby bonuses” that the Trump Administration offers is not very attractive. When I had my first child back in 2013, our mortgage was $1,300 per month and the daycare charged us $1,600 per month. And it wasn’t some luxury daycare, just the average daycare in our neighborhood. We moved into a bigger house when my second child was born in 2017. Then, while our mortgage was $1,600 per month, the daycare charged us $2,900 per month for our two children.

Although the cost of raising a child in the US varies depending on factors such as geography and family structure, it doesn’t take a math genius to figure out that Trump’s meager “baby bonus” wouldn’t last for two months in an average family with two children. And if anyone in the family gets sick, I’m afraid that money wouldn’t even last for a month. This policy is unsustainable--laughable, even.

As a mom of two and a reporter who has been covering parenting, education, and family lifestyle for more than a decade, I have a list of pro-family policies I would like to see adopted instead of a $5,000 check.

On the top of my list are preserving the Department of Education and affordable childcare. As mentioned above, childcare used to run to about $34,000 per year for my family back in the day, and the costs only get higher for new families in my community now. Both of my children are now in public school, and I regularly write stories about families who rely on specialized plans. We need the Department of Education because it plays a vital role in distributing federal funds and equitable opportunities. 

In March, Trump signed an executive order aiming to dismantle the Education Department, a direct attack on our children’s future. An April Trump administration memo proposed eliminating Head Start, which helps low-income families obtain childcare. Meanwhile, Vice President J.D. Vance wrote in the Wall Street Journal, claiming that childcare is bad for families because “children are happier and healthier when they spend the day at home with a parent,” suggesting that more women should scale back at work.

It’s worrisome to see how far this administration would go to interfere with people's family planning, forcing women to have children. The officials need to know--no woman would be inclined to have a baby if the financial burden isn’t relieved and the future of our children isn’t guaranteed.