Sure, there'll be cookies, but then let's get to work

Rally in Tally. Pictures of adorable children on a bus painted in pastels. Free pizza.

All very cute. The Milk Party has arrived in Tallahassee, but its mission is anything but sweetness.

Actually, the organization is the Children’s Movement of Florida. The Milk Party is a nickname playing off of the grassroots growth of the Tea Party. Agree or disagree with the Tea Party’s agenda, it has created a movement and it is a force to be reckoned with.

The Children’s Movement wants to do the same thing in Florida politics by putting issues involving our children high on the public agenda.

They begin in Tallahassee with a rally from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center. Other stops and events are planned throughout the state during September. To see all of the places they will be, click on this link. The rallies are merely introductions, saying “We’re here.”

I view it as the next logical step in what is a growing movement in Florida by parents and others who care about children to fight back against a mentality that has us spending more and more to lock them up and less and less to prepare them to be good citizens.

This newspaper has been trying to help put children’s issues on the public agenda for at least three years. We intend to be a part of this, too. We think it is time to stop raiding our children’s trust funds and start investing in their future. It is time to get kids with disabilities and kids in need of basic, safe child-care off of waiting lists. If money is the problem, cut something else.

It is time to quit mandating success and start investing in it. It is time to start telling our elected officials to put our kids first or we’ll vote you out of office.

The Children’s Movement is new and exciting, but is really a continuation of the efforts of groups like Whole Child, the Early Learning Coalition, Kids Incorporated, Healthy Start and the Children’s Campaign.

Don’t bet against its success.

The group is spearheaded by David Lawrence Jr., former publisher of the Miami Herald, who retired in 1999 to work on early childhood development issues. The Herald won five Pulitzer Prizes during his tenure as publisher. His other honors include being named “Father of the Year” by the South Florida Father’s Day Council.

I’ve been talking with Lawrence and others in his organization most of the summer about the Children’s Movement. In a short while, they have taken huge steps. In partnership with the University of Miami, the Children’s Movement has gotten Democrat Alex Sink and Republic Rick Scott to agree to a debate solely focused on children’s issues. The debate is scheduled Oct. 16 and will be available via TV and the Internet statewide.

At the rally in Tallahassee, the hope is for at least 1,000 people. I hope there will be more. I hope every parent, every teacher, every child-care provider and other citizen who cares about our kids will be there, if nothing else to say, “We’re here, too.”

Of course, there’ll be milk and cookies, too, but no time for a nap. It’s time to get to work for our kids.

Read the full article here.