Today's story in Times about nurseries

[Jane7]

Wondered what people thought about this story here women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article7080372.ece
My dd started going to nursery at about 10 months, makes me worry i've given done her untold damage as she did cry quite a bit when i left her for first few months. she's now 18 months and toddles off quite happily alhtouh monday mornings she is likely to cry

Argh. There are always stories like this, aren't there? Sounds like she's got a book to sell, and saying something deliberately provocative is going to get it shifted. Who knows if it's well-founded or not on the basis of this one article?

I would say that comparing the setting of a 1940s TB where children were ill and quarantined to a modern nursery which you have chosen as a friendly environment and which your dd goes to a day at a time seems absolutely absurd. Perhaps there's more to the book than that but that's not all that promising in terms of solid argument, is it?

You have made the best decision for your family given your circumstances and if your daugher really wasn't happy you would know about it and you would change the situation. Nuff said.

Hi Jane, I wouldn't worry too much about this silly book!

The best 'proof' Gerhardt can come out with was the study on babies abandoned in a TB hospital in the 1940s, which (surprise surprise) harmed their mental development!! Yes, exactly the same scenario as putting an under two in a day nursery. Wtf?!

As other posters on the Times website have pointed out, humankind has survived for millenia without having the 'mother as 100% primary carer' type childcare model.

For what it's worth, my nearly 3 year old has been at nursery part-time since she was one, and is very loving, compassionate, and bright child.

Completely agree with Philbee. It's all about choices you have to make about what's best for you and your family.

If I hadn't gone back to work (which I hated doing, by the way) we couldn't have bought a house. Not a big one, any one. I don't work because I want to or to fund a luxurious lifestyle, I do it because I bloody well have to, and all articles like this do is increase my already huge sense of guilt. So I don't read them. I use my common sense and work out what is best for my children as their mother.
What would have been best - for my child to be homeless, or to be cared for a few days a week in a good nursery? Context is everything. No guilt (she says), just do what you think is best and it probably will be.