England - Book Report

Here's another debate. This time it's from England.

Childcare Debate

Leading author on parenting, Steve Biddulph, says being looked after at home is best for children under three.

Having previously recognised the positive impact of 'quality nursery care' on children in terms of helping them to integrate with their peers, psychiatrist Steve Biddulph has controversially revised his opinion.

He believes the use of day-care, which was originally intended for three and four-year-olds, has spread downwards, with some infants put into nurseries when they are only a few weeks old.

As a result, Steve argues that these children are more likely to become aggressive and withdrawn than those looked after by their mother - with babies under 6 months at particular risk.

Indeed, research by leading childcare expert Penelope Leach, showed that children cared for by their mothers are more socially and emotionally advanced than youngsters looked after by nannies, childminders or grandparents.

An estimated 250,000 children under three now attend nurseries in the UK, with some spending up to 10 hours a day away from their working parents.

Total number of nursery places available in the UK - 542,900
51% of these children are aged 0-3 years old
44.5% of these children are aged 3-4 year olds

(Source: Laing & Buisson estimates, based on annual survey of day-care nurseries and Ofsted statistics, September 2005)

In his new book - Raising Babies: Should Under-3s Go to Nursery? – Steve claims nurseries are marketed in such a way that working parents feel they can offload their children safe in the knowledge that is actually better for them, socially and educationally.

He adds that many parents actually believe that they are not as good for their babies and toddlers as childcare experts might be, despite the fact that these "experts" may well be teenagers with minimal qualifications.

By contrast, the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) says we need to break the myth that nurseries are bad. They say that there are many other factors that create behavioural problems, such as divorcing parents and other social and family issues.

Instead, quality day-care has the following benefits:

Children develop better when they are surrounded by other children of their own age
They learn how to share and care for each other
They have different interaction with races and culture from a really early age

Research released last year by the Institute of Fiscal Studies also found that youngsters who had been to nursery went on to do better at school and earn bigger salaries as adults.