Whilst Penelope Leach was always pretty much of the opinion that infants need attentive and sensitive care from their parents, other childcare gurus weren't so sure. But times are a' changing in this area too , (see post below). Steve Biddulph, author of books about raising boys has revised his previous opinion that it is perfectly OK to shove your children into nurseries. According to the Sunday Times, he is now certain that nursery care is significantly damaging and he points to studies which suggest that such children abandoned to the devastation that is their experience of nursery life are more anti-social and prone to aggression.
Whether or not this observation is correct, it seems so desperately sad that we have taken so long to wake up to the simple fact of listening to the child. It isn't as if the evidence was in some way obscure, for there can be few parents who have treated their child reasonably well, who have not ignored the patently miserable cries of their child as they walked away and out that nursery door. How can we have lacked the intelligence to ask ourselves "why is it unacceptable to torture another adult this way and yet apparently OK for me to cause such devastation to my child? Huh???
Brilliant news! One of the most traumatic of potentially every day experiences is to go and spend a day in a nursery - however good it might be. Thank goodness the message is getting out.
ReplyDeleteNot only does it damage the baby but it must inevitably damage the parents and the nursery workers. The very fact that they must become hardened and immune to suffering and that they can then say 'my baby/the baby is happy in nursery'. Only of course once the baby has given up.
D
I think those who manage to see that the prevalent meme (that it is OK to leave your infant in the care of strangers) is pure bunkum, are doing very well indeed, considering the appearance of knowingness and moral superiority with which this meme is often applied.
ReplyDeleteThe more this meme is challenged the better, imo.
Next stop: Tanya Byron, Supernanny and any other proponents of behaviourism who are still out there.
Children might want to go to nursery. They can be fun places if the workers are good people, with creative play ideas.
ReplyDeleteIf there was a formula to turn parents into superparents that never get exhausted or never have to work it's ok to bash all the social resources that exist in society to help with child care. Truth is, parents are falible.
Also think: What would be better for a child? To stay in a mainstream nursery where there are loads of toys and friends to play, or have the Pearls as home-educators?
Lol! A good point! Only, the nursery attendee with the Pearls as parents would quite probably be dishing out corporal punishment willy nilly to the other children: a mini terrorist!
ReplyDeleteD
A daughter from the Pearls would become a wife and a mother, never a nursery worker. I think nursery workers that spank come from other convictions and probably don't even admit they spank.
ReplyDeleteHi Leo,
ReplyDeleteI wasn't clear in my message. When I said the 'nursery attendee' would be terrorising the children at nursery, I meant the little 3 or 4 year old child of the Pearls, not the nursery worker!
However, I actually know a lady who had parents very similar to what we know about the Pearls, if not more abusive, and who eventually chose to work with children and today owns her own nursery for children. Needless to say, love for children is not a motive or one of her priorities.
D
Here's an anti-daycare website with a similar opinion to Mr. Biddulph...
ReplyDelete