Understanding Childcare

Someone wrote in to say: Judy; this is indeed an interesting piece. [Paris]. I note your comments especially those pointing towards the "best" time for a child to start formal schooling; this is a hot potato here in the UK at the moment. We got stuck at 5 way back in the 1800's mainly for child protection and working children economically contributing to families at the time and things haven't changed since then. It would also be true that the UK is out-of-step with the rest of Europe; it's much higher in Scandinavia and more in France etc...the bottom line is basically, for me, "when s/he's ready..." but there's also the pressure from those who advocate (as the article does a bit) the earlier the better especially for potentially disadvantaged children.

These are good points and interesting notes. I think, like the writer, it's important to understand who the child is now and who he has been in the past and how he is regarded by the rest of the world. It makes the job of childcare a lot more understandable. It offers a perspective on how other nations are rearing children as well as understanding why we do what we do.

In the US, I think children are still thought of as a really necessary part of the family unit because we are still continuing to replace ourselves and often having more than two. Both my married children are having a third child, and I don't think this is unusual for families who keep it together. Putting a child in school is a normal event at a particular age. Seeking childcare for at least part of the day is also not unusual. Moving one child along because there is another one coming allows the norm to work for the family. In other words I think in the US the child is not the isolated one of a kind pet, he's simply one of the kids, and this is what we do with him and for him.

The question is not about "when" so much as it's about what. When we put a child in school what will he do there? If the answer is nothing, then there's a problem. Many childcares that tout an early education aren't that at all. The monitors or providers aren't capable of educating anyone. Then the idea of placing a child into a center where children are simply held for 10-12 hours is a warehouse, and that's more the story than anything else. That's why the big push for every four year old to go to preschool is daunting because the question has not been answered -- to do what? Is there going to be a scramble to find someone to educate these kids or will the classrooms be maintained by another crew of non readers?

I think placing a three or four year old into a "nothing" childcare is worse than putting a child to work because at least at work a child in the company of family and he could be accomplishing something. Can you imagine a place where you do nothing for the three most productive years of your life? What can that do to formation?

The child as an economic unit is still alive and well in many parts of the world including the US. Helping on family farms and in family businesses is still very much a part of the way many people live. I would rather see children working on the family farm than doing nothing. There is so much to see and do on a farm, and the farmers I know are such wonderful people. Understanding the natural flow of seasons, seeing nature at it's best and worst is something a child locked into a small room in a center will never witness.

As far as child protection goes, without strong families, we've come full circle back to the early middle ages where children were not protected by anyone. We see vulnerable unprotected children all the time simply because promises have not been made or kept.

It's interesting to remember that it was the Church that established marriage as a sacrament so that a marriage promise could not be broken and the children within the family could be cared for as a matter of law. The state also once cared for marriage by making divorce difficult. Now it's a free for all and the idea of family has taken another blow.

Sometimes I think the state is trying to get children out of the family mess and into school so that the state can be the parent. How do we feel about that?