Anti Day Care - A Web Site

A letter came from a reader about a February 26 post. She recommended that I read the anti day care web site. I've seen it before. My first impression was to laugh and my second was a snide grammatical comment, and I looked carefully at the website because I really believe everyone has a point of view, and we too often brush off points of view not like our own.

After considering this point of view and taking the time to read some of the articles on the site, I concluded that she's right: institutions don't love or care because they are inanimate; people do. To say that all people working in childcare facilities don't love "your" child is idiotic and closed minded and not worth paying attention to. To say that the people working in childcare don't love "your" child as much as "you" do is a respectable statement. Of course they don't, and if they did, what's wrong with "you?"

The truth is, some childcare providers just like some teachers will really bond with a child. There will be a friendship you can count on. I know about this because 25 years ago I started making a lot of friends who I really cared about -- little people - who now have little people of their own. When I meet them in the street or at a party or wedding, we remember, and the love and respect all comes back.

At the same time there isn't a child at my school I wouldn't take home as my own if the opportunity presented itself. Every child, every person has worth and value and is lovable. Love is an easy response to a child. To be able, like the parent, to tell the child he or she is lovable, and well worth fighting for is a glorious gift, a royal opportunity, a joy beyond any possible reward.

To say Childcare is a barrier to love is dumb. It's about as dumb as saying nobody really needs childcare. Besides, who is to moderate who loves whom and why? But someone wrote in, and it's worth looking at. So here's the intro to the anti childcare website and you decide:



Everyone knows it’s true… but almost everyone’s afraid to say it: Daycare institutions don’t care about or love your child like you do.

For years, many experts have been warning us about the detrimental consequences for children placed in day care.

This website contains an extensive index of publications about daycare from well-known child development authorities, psychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, public policy analysts, sociologists, daycare providers, and others.

This collection of day care information seeks to counterbalance the relentless pressure placed upon parents to abandon their children to these impersonal institutions.

These findings show that no amount of legislation, government funding, money, early childhood training, regulations, or inspections can make a day-care love your child.