We know quality child care offers children a good start in school and life. But there is another sometimes overlooked benefit: good affordable care brings greater balance to working families.

Today quality early learning and work-life balance are inseparable thanks to the growing number of families with two parents in the rat race – two-income households jumped from 60 to 65 percent of families from 1986 to 2008 - struggling and now demanding top-quality care.

The connection was obvious this morning during an online dialogue hosted by Work and Family. The topic was the disconnect between the public perception of work and family and the reality, and it showcased an increasingly powerful coalition pushing for changes in work-life policies. What is interesting for early learning folks is that many of the comments were about demands for quality child care. (The transcript is available here.)

As I watched and joined the dialogue it struck me that there was a greater role for child care advocates, though I’m sure some were online, because they could accomplish a lot with these work-family lobbyists.

Work-family balance is a sprawling topic, covering everything from maternity leave to fitness. In the next two years, though, if they focused on improving child care they would address arguably the biggest obstacle working parents face to creating a more balanced family life.

Of course, the early learning community and work-life warriors already team up on issues, but this is a good time to work on their relationship. They have a sympathetic president and first lady in the White House and a Democratically-controlled Congress, creating an opportunity to recast the debate.

For example, one of today’s topics was the need for more top-quality child care at employers. Though it may sound expensive, this benefit doesn’t need to be a big-ticket item when seen through a lens of higher productivity and lower turnover.

With Congress back in session, what do you want to see out of this relationship? What are the top federal changes you would like these two groups to join forces on to create a more sane family life?