Australia

Here's a perfect example of a one sided argument out of favor with childcare. It can be bleak. But at the same time, it can be a gift. Suppose a mother is abandoned by the child's father and has few means of support? What if mother finds a loving happy childcare and the child thrives on beacoup toys, a nice yard, good meals and treats, a good play environment with story time and lots of other children to play with while mom earns a wage?

It's not happily ever aftering, but it's better than a dank room someplace and hunger which is what the abandoned mother and child could face.

Childcare is a matter of perspectives.

News.com.au
Childcare Damaging Tots

PUTTING children under three in child care can damage their intellectual and emotional development, a parenting expert claims.

International best-selling author Steve Biddulph said children, particularly those placed in child care from the age of six months, could become anti-social and aggressive.

In his book, "Raising Babies: Should Under 3s Go to Nursery?", Australian-born Mr Biddulph said childcare facilities were struggling to meet very young children's needs.

"The worst were negligent, frightening and bleak, a nightmare of bewildered loneliness that was heartbreaking to watch," he said.

More than a third of Australian babies are regularly cared for in their first year of life by people other than their parents, a study revealed this week.

Mr Biddulph said nothing equalled one-to-one care for a child under two.

"Infants' brains need to be stimulated by loving interaction if they are to develop properly," he said. "Nannies can work well as a halfway solution if parents are very lucky with the person they find."

He said care by family or friends was "a much safer option".

His greatest concern was for "slammers", urban professionals who put their children in full-time child care, before the age of six months until school age.

In Australia, 36 per cent of babies and toddler are cared for regularly by someone other than their parents.

Of those in care, 30 per cent are looked after in formal care.

This week the manager of the Hallam Childcare Centre, Natalie Coomber, was convicted of assaulting children in her care.

Mr Biddulph's book has outraged Australian parenting experts. Experts agreed child care could have a negative impact, but only if it was not done properly.

Australian Childhood Foundation chief executive Joe Tucci said children who suffered high stress in a childcare environment often had difficulty learning and developing friendships. But a child's experience depended on the quality of the childcare centre.

Early childhood researcher Margaret Sims said most of the research was done in the US, where child care was a poorer quality.

"There is no reason why someone who is paid to do the job in a good environment can't provide a good or even better care than a parent," she said.