Another article about work and childcare

[Caligula]

Quite a thoughtful, intelligent one this time, I thought. (Not India Knight, then, I hear you scream! )

here

That is very interesting, I think she makes a lot of valid points.

I think it's very negative actully and I am soooo tired of these articles. Especially as it just doesn't seem to be many who writes from the other point of view on this. Am I the only one whose children have absolutely thrived in a great nursery and whose daughter enjoys her after-school club?
I don't recognise these children insecure, prone to sudden rages and rigid with tension. Am I exiciting in a parallell universe to everyone else?
It's not as if these articles affect me personally, but I think it's a shame if children miss out on great nursery years just because their parents got scared off by these women who obviously think childcare will be the end of civilisation..

Agree, Fairymum. The gist of the article seems to be how parents spend too much time in employment and too little time with their children thus leading to social problems in their offspring. If so, this is an argument against any form of child care/WOHM. But as usual, it is the nursery/afterschool/institutionalised form of childcare that is hauled over the coals, because it is the easiest to demonise on paper. That is unless you yourself have children in nursery/afterschool clubs and realise that your child is not the anxious/anti-social creature you were afraid (from reading similar articles) he/she would become but that he/she actually likes going and gains so much from the socialisation.

Just because parents work doesn't mean they don't spend any time with their children - sheesh. My dh and I know our dd inside out and we haven't been witness to any sudden rages. Certainly, whilst she has her stroppy moments (she is only 2.4 years), I can hth say that her main motivation is to please us. So doomsday sensationalism does not wash with me, I'm afraid.

But I do agree about how the standard of living has now been pegged to 2 working parents, which in our parents' time, was only pegged to one working parent. The consequence is that families with only one breadwinner have to make sacrifices in their lifestyle that can be unduly harsh.

I don't think she was attacking parents for spending time away from children. What she seems to me to be attacking, is the culture of over-work which we have in this country, and the denial of the importance of family life. We are almost unique in Europe in putting our family time way down our list of priorities and I really don't see what's wrong with pointing that out.