I have a career, not a job.
I just don't think you can say that for a young child there is any better situation than being looked after by a parent
Actually, it depends. We don't use paid childcare now dd is at school, but I genuinely think dd did benefit from the four hours a day that she spent with her nanny when she was a pre-schooler. Our nanny was a wonderful woman who has become one of my dearest friends. We shared very similar values an beliefs about parenting, and she built up a very strong bond with my dd - so strong in fact that, since we moved, she and her family have travelled 200 miles once or twice a year to see dd, and we also go back the other way.
Our nanny had a daughter two years older than our dd, who played with dd every day when they were small. DD still describes the nanny's daughter as her "big sister" - an important bond for dd, as we have been unable to have any more kids. Three years since we moved, they still talk on skype at least once a week, and share a closeness that I don't see between dd and any of her other friends.
Our nanny was able to give dd many things that we, her parents, couldn't give her. I think we all have strengths and weaknesses as parents, and she filled in many of the gaps for us - for example, I was very good at talking to dd and building her language skills, engaging in imaginative play etc, but the nanny was far more creative than I shall ever be, and came up with all kinds of little projects for her to make, things for her to do etc. She had a different style of playing from either me or DH, and I think dd thrived on those different influences.
Another issue was that she had a different approach to outdoor physical play. When dd was younger, DH and I were massively over-protective to the extent that we unwittingly made dd very fearful of things. The nanny was very careful but much less paranoid, and it was great to see dd's confidence growing in her care.
And then there was the fact that, thanks to the nanny, dd is able to communicate confidently in a third language in which both DH and I are fluent. We have many close friends who only speak this language, so it is a great bonus for our family that dd is able to join in conversations when we have guests come to stay.
And finally, I think it did dd a tremendous amount of good to build up a really loving, trusting relationship with someone outside of the family. Someone with whom she will always have a strong bond. Someone she can go to when she is older if she has a problem that she doesn't want to discuss with us.
So no, I really don't agree that a child is necessarily better off always being cared for by a parent. Perhaps DH and I have more limitations than most, but I think most children would benefit from having a few different influences in their lives. That needn't be in the form of paid childcare, of course - grandparents, aunties & uncles, close family friends also have a role to play. But why shouldn't good childcare also help to fulfil that role - it is perhaps the easiest way for the child to bond with another adult because that adult is caring for the child on a regular basis.
I realise that we were lucky to be able to afford a nanny, and lucky to find such a fantastic one. But certainly, it was a tremendously enriching experience for dd, and if she had been cared for exclusively by myself and DH in her early years, her life would have been poorer for it.