India, Sept. 9 -- A news story highlighted a recent initiative by New York City offering four hours of free, supervised childcare for children aged six to 13, to enable parents to do whatever they choose to do. Many consider it a radical shift in public policy stance in recognising the idea of leisure as a parental right, as against the conventional public policies that implement structurally supportive facilities for relieving their financial, temporal, and social pressures.

NYC's pilot project highlights the importance of parental wellbeing, emotional fulfilment, and the need for personal joy and rest, as ingredients of a happy society, going beyond the concept of affordability or efficiency. Globally, in the face of falling fertility ...