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Book |
Quote/Comment |
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Motherhood - how should we care for our
children? by Anne Manne,
©2005, p. 228 |
It is not only the US based NICHD study that has
linked early and extensive childcare with problems. In 2002 Melbourne
(Australia) University researcher Kay Margetts made similar findings.
Children who spent more than 30 hours a week in childcare centres had
significantly lower social skills, were less academically able and had more
problem behaviours than other children
Category = Behavior, Development |
|
Motherhood - how should we care for our
children? by Anne Manne,
©2005, p. 230 |
...in modern societies, on every health issue
(such as daycare), the agreed principle is that a person adopting a
recommended course of action should know the risks as well as the suggested
benefits. Not to inform a person of a risk, however small, is grounds for
litigation.
Category = Politics |
|
Motherhood - how should we care for our
children? by Anne Manne,
©2005, p. 231 |
(Ted Melhuish) also highlights the experience of
Sweden, which he suggests shows what parents will do if given a real
choice: 'The Swedish case is very revealing--there was high-quality care
available to all and heavily subsidised. It was widely used in the 70s and
80s, but in the early 90s, parental leave was increased and now there is
remarkably little used of childcare under 18 months. Parents voted with their
feet.'
Category = Politics |
|
Motherhood - how should we care for our
children? by Anne Manne,
©2005, p. 231-232 |
Many academics have now staked their reputations
on claims that childcare is not just 'safe' but 'better'.
Category = Politics |
|
Motherhood - how should we care for our
children? by Anne Manne,
©2005, p. 232 |
The major stakeholders and
beneficiaries (of daycare) now include the billion-dollar for-profit
daycare industry. Even socially conservative governments now
won't seriously oppose their interests--whether in raising care quality,
increasing staff and paying them decently.
Category = Economics, Politics |
|
Motherhood - how should we care for our
children? by Anne Manne,
©2005, p. 232 |
The mantra* 'It's only the Quality of Care that
Counts' has worked as a societal alibi**, and prevented us from asking the
important questions. Childcare centres explicitly for sick children have
begun opening their doors. A new 48-hour for-profit centre opened in
Melbourne (Australia) in 2003, offering not just 12 hours of care, not just
24 hours, but the option of depositing children for a full 48 hours, even
sleeping nights there.
Come to think of it, why not corporate-funded orphanages
for the first few
years of life? If it is truly only the 'quality of care that counts', why
not?
*Mantra =
a word or phrase which is often repeated and which sometimes expresses a
belief.
**Alibi = an excuse, esp. to avoid blame.
Category =
Economics, Politics |
|
Motherhood - how should we care for our
children? by Anne Manne,
©2005, p. 235 |
Cui Bono? Who benefits? It is the oldest
political question.
The new capitalism, however, requires a quite different ideology--not just
of motherhood but childhood. A new child must be invented....conveniently
enough never have needs of their own which compete and conflict with the
needs of the employer...
They do not need too much parental time or nurture. Quite suddenly, the new
childcare discourse--that children don't need mothers but 'professional'
caregivers, that childcare is 'better than home' and that children lose
nothing by society institutionalising their care from the earliest weeks and
months of life--can be seen for what it is. The ideology of childhood that
the new capitalism has to have.
Category = Politics |
