It is becoming clear that childcare policies will be a major vote-winner in the forthcoming general election, which should be good news for everyone within the early years sector.
Netmums (see News, page 5) is at the centre of political activity, as the parties vie to take the high ground on family services.
So it is an opportune time for the launch of 4Children's 'Shout out for a Sure Start' campaign, attended last week by Ed Balls (Labour), Maria Miller (Conservative) and Annette Brooke (LibDem), as well as the less parliamentary figures of Melinda Messenger and Peppa Pig!
Sure Start and the Children's Centres programme have come in for much criticism over their lifetime so far - claims of lack of value for money, the need to reach more of the 'hard to reach' - but they should be viewed as a real achievement of this Government, and one that should be built on rather than destroyed.
Ask any parent who has benefited from the services of a children's centre, and they will testify as to their worth. Lives of families from all parts of society have been transformed in the process.
Ed Balls told Nursery World at the campaign launch that he supported the universal nature of Sure Start, criticising the Tories for plans to limit it to the most disadvantaged families and divert funding to provide more health visitors. (And the children's secretary re-tweeted our story on Twitter, so he's obviously keen to reinforce the message!).
So if parent power is really going to count at the ballot box, Mr Balls could have scored a valuable point here.
