Our dearest Justine and some bloke from the family childcare trust were on radio 4 this morning talking about childcare costs.
They focussed on Mums who would like to work more but cannot afford to due to childcare costs, and a proposal to make more free time available for 2-3 yos.
They both made a compelling case that this situation was bad for the Mums (because they want to work and can't).
They made a reasonable (but by no means obviously correct) argument that it was better for the economy for these Mums to work.
But they were then asked something along the lines of:
" Is increased access to childcare good for children? I mean if it isn't there isn't really any point? "
And they didn't answer AT ALL. They went back to the previous economic answer. Well actually Justine didn't get a chance to respond - so no accusation in her specific direction!
But what is the answer?
Is taking a child out of the home and putting them in nursery for an additional period between 2 and 3 yo (which was the proposal being discussed) actually good for the child?
Do kids in nursery earlier do better/worse at school? Are they happier/less happy? Is this a simple case of happier mummy, happier toddler?
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MNHQ have commented on this thread
AIBU?
to re-pose the radio 4 question - Is childcare good for CHILDREN?
859 replies
IceBeing · 04/03/2014 08:40
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