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Original poster

to re-pose the radio 4 question - Is childcare good for CHILDREN?

1 reply

IceBeing · 04/03/2014 08:40

Our dearest Justine and some bloke from the family childcare trust were on radio 4 this morning talking about childcare costs.

They focussed on Mums who would like to work more but cannot afford to due to childcare costs, and a proposal to make more free time available for 2-3 yos.

They both made a compelling case that this situation was bad for the Mums (because they want to work and can't).

They made a reasonable (but by no means obviously correct) argument that it was better for the economy for these Mums to work.

But they were then asked something along the lines of:

" Is increased access to childcare good for children? I mean if it isn't there isn't really any point? "

And they didn't answer AT ALL. They went back to the previous economic answer. Well actually Justine didn't get a chance to respond - so no accusation in her specific direction!

But what is the answer?

Is taking a child out of the home and putting them in nursery for an additional period between 2 and 3 yo (which was the proposal being discussed) actually good for the child?

Do kids in nursery earlier do better/worse at school? Are they happier/less happy? Is this a simple case of happier mummy, happier toddler?

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MNHQ

JustineMumsnet · 04/03/2014 20:00

Hi OP,
Thanks for the question - you're right I didn't get a chance to answer on Today.

As others have said I think it's complicated and it depends. On the age, on the child, on the family, on the finances, on the home situation, on the quality of the childcare.

In the end though, I'd broadly trust parents to make the best decisions for their children and their family given their own, particular circumstances.

The point I was making (or trying to make), is that according to all our many surveys on this issue parents who would rather work more, are put off from working because of difficulty of finding affordable and flexible childcare.

For example in the survey we did with the Resolution Foundation a few months back 37% of SAHM said they'd rather work outside of the home (on average for 23 hours per week). And 15% of Work outside of home mums said they'd rather work more hours than they did (on average 10 more).

I was arguing for better childcare provision for those who want to work outside of the home - by no means all mothers - because I'd trust families to know what's best for them, and for those families there are benefits to working (as there are to the wider economy).

Hope that makes sense.

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