Proclamation 5235—National School-Age Child Care Awareness Week, 1984

The care and education of children has always been society's most important task, since a nation's children are its future. The love and instruction young people receive during their formative years help to set their characters for the rest of their lives and so determine the kind of society we all live in.

Patterns of child care are changing rapidly as a majority of women spend part or all of their adult lives as members of the labor force. Yet the need of young people for love and guidance remains as important as ever, and we all have a responsibility to make sure that they continue to receive it.

The Federal government has been actively involved in working with State and local governments, voluntary and nonprofit agencies, and businesses to encourage the creation of appropriate programs for school-age children. The White House Office of Private Sector Initiatives has launched a series of forums for chief executive officers of major corporations to promote increased private sector involvement in child care. The Department of Health and Human Services is also sponsoring a number of initiatives to help American families meet their child care needs. These projects are increasing knowledge through research, demonstrating new program models, making valuable information available to parents and providers, and helping to develop local child care systems.

But today, as in the past, the most important environment forming the characters of our young people is the family. Families face new challenges, but the American family has proved to be a most resilient institution. It remains the primary vehicle by which parents seek to develop their children into healthy and confident adults. The task before us is to strengthen the family and help it when necessary so that it will continue to perform its unique civilizing function.

The Congress of the United States, by House Joint Resolution 544, has designated the week of September 2 through 8, 1984, as "National School-Age Child Care Awareness Week" and has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of that week.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week of September 2 through 8, 1984, as National School-Age Child Care Awareness Week.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and ninth.

RONALD REAGAN