Mem Fox blasts childcare
Bestselling children's author Mem Fox says people should not have babies if they can only take a few weeks off before putting them into childcare.
The Adelaide-based author of Possum Magic and Where Is The Green Sheep has told the Sunday Herald Sun she trembles when she thinks of babies being put into childcare.
"I don't know why some people have children at all if they know that they can take only a few weeks off work," she said.
"I know you want a child, and you have every right to want a child, but does the child want you if you are going to put it in child care at six weeks? I don't think the child wants you, to tell the honest truth."
Fox says she was recently talking to a Queensland childcare worker who said society would look back "and wonder how we have allowed that child abuse to happen".
"It's awful for the mothers as well," she said. "It's completely heartbreaking."
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I guess it depends on the child, but I don't think my youngest would have survived if I hadn't stayed home with him.On the other hand, my grandson had a babysitter from age 3 months on and it worked out well for him. She was an amazing lady and was more of a teacher than sitter. He learned quite a lot. The sitter required that a camera be packed into the diaper bag, so that photos could be taken of the child's milestones so the parents didn't miss them. She also kept a diary of what the child did every day which made the parents feel a little closer to their child.
ReplyDeleteI think the comments were aimed more at institutional forms of care than the one to one care of genuinely caring "substitute" parents- bad choice of words there, but it's Monday morning and my brain is only on 80%. We have cared for Alex and his sister Bethany from very early in their lives and their family is our family.I really believe that the damage is in the centre based "care" where people are employees who may or may not genuinely care about the children, and where there is a different face every day, and where children are left there from early morning to evening.It's at its worst where the centres are owned by large corporations such as ABC Learning, and everything is being done to support the extravagant lifestyle of one individual.The combination of feminism in the 70s and plain greed has really messed up family priorities greatly. In the 70s, feminists told women they shouldn't be staying at home caring for children because paid employment was a far more noble endeavour than merely shaping the lives of children. So women entered the workforce in greater numbers. Then families went from one income to two which meant they could afford more expensive houses. But then the laws of supply and demand kicked in, pushing up house prices which then meant that by the 90s most people actually needed two incomes to pay for the house prices inflated by increased women's work participation. Ironic isn't it that the proudest achievement of feminism is effectively doubling the price of housing relative to incomes?The other factor is that people in their 20s and 30s demand a standard of housing starting out that their parents achieved in their 50s. They have to have the half million dollar house with three bedrooms and home theatre from day 1. So now we are in a terrible position where people's expectations lock them into this treadmill of two incomes to support a mortgage that to me just seems like a huge millstone around people's necks. when there is the slightest hiccough such as a rise in interest rates (or fuel prices), or sickness or pregnancy, these people find themselves in a financial meltdown.That of course is a massive generalisation. But I think it explains a lot of why people are locked into a lifestyle that seems more akin to a mouse on a wheel than to genuine human living.I was pleasantly surprised a couple of months ago to look in a real estate agent's window and find that in Narrabri you could buy three houses in our newest subdivision for the price of one house at the median house price in Sydney. That seems to me to be the real solution for young families, but in one of the most urbanised nations in the world, fear of the countryside will be a hard barrier for most people to overcome.
ReplyDeleteSome excellent points there. There is so much pressure put on people these days to have so much "stuff" that the quality of care for children often does come secondary. It's more important than ever to teach kids to think for themselves and not just do what the commercials on television tell them they should do or have, or be.
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