In the long run, what's best for the kids — in this case, both teenage parents and their own young children — is what's best for all of us.

So the policy decision at seven public high schools to offer childcare for their students who have children is a smart one that will give these teens the best shot at carving out a future for themselves.

Critics of the programs at McKinley, Wai'anae, Leilehua, Hilo,Waiakea, Konawaena and Kapa'a high schools say that providing on- or near-campus day care simply normalizes teen pregnancy. This, they maintain, would eliminate a practical barrier in the minds of other teens contemplating becoming sexually active.

But the lack of childcare has only served to end all academic pursuit for young single parents and close off routes toward self-reliance. Instead, they are likely to become unemployed or underemployed, dependent on government aid to help provide their baby's nutritional needs.

In addition, the advent of campus day care has been associated with a declining incidence of teen pregnancy, so there seems to be no cause-and-effect relationship here between providing services and teen behavior. In the 14 years since childcare services appeared in a few schools and, in others, an elective class on dual roles for student parents, the number of second pregnancies has declined.

And Hawai'i has witnessed positive academic effects of programs such as Pregnant Parenting Teens; last year, 88 percent of its participants graduated, surpassing the state's overall average graduation rate of 79 to 80 percent.

That's because the childcare doesn't come free: Students who receive the benefit must keep up their grades.

Bringing the children of our children into the fold is a sensible way to deal with the fact that the stigma that once attached to single parenthood has all but disappeared.

It also presents an opportunity for both male and female students to reckon with the reality of parenthood. Perhaps students could be increasingly involved in the care of the toddlers at care centers; nothing prepares a teen for the ultimate sacrifices of single parenthood than a close-up view of the work and responsibility it involves.

To whatever extent federal or state dollars are available for expanding the program, this is a success story worth duplicating.