Posted on 12/30/2006 4:39:20 PM PST by bruinbirdman
Working mothers are harming their children's long-term development by sending them to nursery from an early age, a leading author said yesterday.
Michael Morpurgo, the former children's laureate, sparked controversy by saying that it was "utterly extraordinary" that half of mothers with children under five had jobs outside the home.
He said lack of contact between children and parents was directly to blame for rising levels of mental health problems, sleep disorders and anorexia in young people.
The comments were dismissed by child care groups, which said studies showed that youngsters benefited from increased contact with other children as early as possible. But they won support from the Conservatives, who said nurseries were subjecting children to an unnecessarily formal education.
The debate follows the launch of The Daily Telegraph's Hold on to Childhood campaign – a drive to raise awareness of the damage caused by junk food, marketing, over-competitive schooling and electronic entertainment on children's lives.
Mr Morpurgo, recently awarded an OBE for services to literature, said: "It is utterly extraordinary now how many children grow up without their mothers around them. You have got 50 per cent of mothers these days of children under five who are employed outside the home. Well, you are cutting off something there, whether you like it or not, and it may be an uncomfortable thing to recognise."
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that sending children to school at four or five was too early.
"We pack our children off to care groups or even to school, but many countries in Europe do not send their children until they are seven," he said. "They live in the bosom of their family. That is where they are nurtured – within the nest. That is where they can grow their wings, they can learn to fly." He added: "I don't think it is an accident that one in 10 of our children is suffering from mental health problems, from sleep disorders, from eating disorders and things like that."
In October, an eminent group of child care experts raised concerns about the long-term effect of placing children in inadequate day nurseries. In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, they said that separating children from their mothers risked "storing up behavioural difficulties".
Last year, research by Professor Michael Lamb, of Cambridge University, found that nurseries caused distress to young children. He found that levels of the stress hormone cortisol doubled in youngsters during the first nine days of child care without their mothers present and continued to be much higher among children five months after starting nursery compared with those who stayed at home.
Of the 521,000 day care places in England and Wales, about 85,000 are thought to be taken by under-threes.
Sue Palmer, a former head teacher, who wrote the book Toxic Childhood, charting the damaging influences of modern life, said: "Children need one-on-one care in their earliest years. It affects their education and gives them a head start in life. While nurseries can provide safety and warmth, they cannot provide the attention and consistency that a mother can."
However, Hayley Doyle, spokesman for the National Day Nurseries Association, said: "Many parents need to work and should not be criticised for choosing to send their children to a nursery. The vast majority of nurseries are recognised as being of a high standard and studies have shown that children who have been to them are, in the long term, higher achievers and better earners."
But David Willetts, the Conservative shadow education secretary, agreed that nursery education might be harming young children. "What is happening is we are making child care for three- and four-year-olds much too like a formal school experience – that's what all these Ofsted inspections are forcing them to do," he said. "We are not allowing children to go through their own development."
Penny Nicholls, strategic director of the Children's Society's two-year Good Childhood Inquiry, said: "We have one of the lowest wellbeing quotas in Europe for children. Even though we are twice as wealthy as we were 50 years ago, that wealth has not brought happiness."
Fat kid - where's mom.
AMEN! I not for one minute fault divorced moms, but do take issue with mom working outside the home before her child is five or six.
I realize how hard it is to survive on one salary (read: excessive taxes), but kids need love and TLC till they become well-adjusted enough to spread their wings.
Sure they can. They'll just demand that you and I pay for it, and bemoan the crazy notion that my money belongs to me - not their baby's pediatrician.
What about pre-kindergarten?
Most people wait until they've been billed to bitch about the amount.
Am going to have to agree with you. Parents work to pay for their children and they also may provide them with health insurance and benefits.
Some studies have actually shown the opposite, parents AND children may benefit from being with other children as opposed to being in the home full time by the time they reach age 3.
My daughter is married to a bum. I cannot afford to support them. She works 3 days a week. I and my wife watch the 2 year old terror. Luckily I was allowed to retire early. Still I wish that she would leave the bum and move back in with us!
Today some mothers were working for years before marriage and have reached a pay scale that the father hasnt quite reached. A mother quitting a $50,000 dollar a year job to stay home while the father makes $30,000 is a tough nut to crack.
I think it is a bad idea. The earlier a child is exposed to ideas that are contrary to what you want him to learn the more likely he is to embrace those ideas.
Let's face it. Most parents are very capable of teaching their children the basics of reading, math, spelling and social skills. They certainly should be the ones teaching their children religion, morals, and ethics.
Pre Kindergaten is another ploy to put children under the influence of government schools at an early age. You can be certain that what they learn aside from what a parent could teach will be the likes of inappropriate sex education, tolerance for amoral and immoral behavior, relativism and mockery of God and Country.
So I refuse to fall for the claim that Pre K is needed to advance our children's place in the world.
This must be uncomfortable reading for many parents because they have chosen to leave their tiny children in day care and they know inside themselves that it is often not the right thing to do.
"Right now, one partner works just to pay taxes."
How true. But, I bet that the leftists (primarily feminists) that created that situation aren't taking a lot of credit for it.
"Last year, research by Professor Michael Lamb, of Cambridge University, found that nurseries caused distress to young children. He found that levels of the stress hormone cortisol doubled in youngsters during the first nine days of child care without their mothers present and continued to be much higher among children five months after starting nursery compared with those who stayed at home."
Interesting that it can actually be measured. This whole thing shows just how evilly selfish feminism has become. Instead of Mom staying home, feminism has duped her into thinking "she can have it all." What idiots. Unfortunately, it is the child who pays. And society wonders why we have the situtation we have today. Trust me - it is largely because mothers are not home during the day taking care of the kids in the neighborhood! And subconsciously, kids must be thinking they are not as important as their mother's career. So they are lower on the priority list.
Mainly what they acquire from each other consists of bad habits and bacteria.
I would say that is merely an opinion.
Perhaps you should let parents make their own choices instead of imposing your standards on them.
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