I found this quite interesting:
childrensneeds.homestead.com/daycare1.html
Clearly its going to annoy a lot of full-time working mothers. I personally feel SOMEONE should stay at home with the kids, if they can (being honest about whether or not they can). Try not knee-jerk hate it because i think the points she makes, while a bit sickly, are convincing.
I was thinking about what other aspects of home-life children pick up on that they simply couldn't get from a nursery or even a nanny who comes to the home.
Childminders are, these days, fully qualified (frequently to degree level) in the ins and outs of caring for children. Now, on the surface, this looks fantastic. Why have children raised by their parents, who may or may not know what they're doing, when our children could be raised by trained professionals.
There was something just a bit icky about the phrase 'raising children with trained professionals' that didn't sit well with me. What about the spontaneity of parents? the mistakes? the political in-correctness? The government rants? The swearing? The argument that parents can also be abusive and neglectful is true but that is a separate issue. Im talking about run of the mill, average, doing the best they can parents - the majority.
Will the characters of our children become monochrome because they're spending most of their time in the care of 'Government formed, professional parents' who, despite years of training, will NEVER adore their charges as a parent would?
I know its a subtle point and im not even certain it holds any water - just wondered what anyone else thought.
Is there something to be said for the kind of parenting our grandparents knew? That slap-dash, imperfect, frustrated, conditionally loving, real-life parenting.