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Book |
Quote/Comment |
Children First
What our society must do--and is not doing--for our children
today
by Penelope Leach ©1994
PART TWO: Children and Parents
Chapter 4: Daycare: Dreams and Nightmares, P87-88 |
But the pain of separations we arrange and
connive at every time we change caregivers or leave a baby in the daycare
center that has new staff--again--or with an agency babysitter she has never
seen, may not be as different (from the loss of a mother) as we assume.
Category = Behavior
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Children First
What our society must do--and is not doing--for our children
today
by Penelope Leach ©1994, P88 |
WHY NURSERIES AND DAYCARE CENTERS SELDOM MEET
THOSE INFANT NEEDS
That vital continuous one-to-one attention can rarely be achieved in group
care, however excellent the facility may be. Babies
in their first year need one primary adult each,
and while that may be inconvenient, it is not very surprising. Human beings
do not give birth to litters but almost always to single babies. Women can
only just feed two at a time (ask any mother of twins) and cannot
single-handedly care for more (ask any mother of triplets). No amount of
"training" enables a nursery worker to do better.
...And that is three. How many daycare centers really offer a
1:3 adult-child ratio?
Category = Quality
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Children First
What our society must do--and is not doing--for our children
today
by Penelope Leach ©1994, P88 |
In most countries, the majority of daycare
centers for infants are not excellent. How could they be? The work is
underpaid and undervalued, as well as demanding, so it neither attracts nor
keeps high-quality staff.
Category = Quality
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Children First
What our society must do--and is not doing--for our children
today
by Penelope Leach ©1994, P89 |
In most EEC*
countries, however, it is rare for those who work in daycare centers with
this age group to have childcare qualifications of any kind and in
many countries even the basic educational requirements for entry to the work
are minimal.
*EEC - Now known as the European Community
Category = Quality, Regulations
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Children First
What our society must do--and is not doing--for our children
today
by Penelope Leach ©1994, P89 |
In the United States, where federal standards
have been abolished and each state makes its own childcare regulations, the
current situation is best summed up by the researchers who studied
comparative licensing: "The possibility of having a
'qualified' staff is virtually non-existent....In
a majority of states, the existing regulations allow these very young
children to be cared for by a staff that would have a
mean age of 18, has not graduated from high school,
and has no previous day-care experience."
Category = Quality, Regulations |
