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."
If you aren't implanting your values in your child, someone else is.
Says whom? You?
My children go to daycare and I have NEVER felt that there is ANYTHING wrong with it. Thanks for your silly opinion though.
I am not sure that's true. My husband worked and I stayed home, he didn't make alot and we had 3 kids in 3 1/2 years. We didn't have any of the bells and whistles everyone else had, had old cars (and sometimes only one car). Taxes may be high, but most people in the US live above their means and think they need things they really don't. Those years were tough, but I wouldn't trade them for anything, and in fact, neither would my kids, who not only had a Mom at home, but also learned that money doesn't grow on trees, nor does it make you happy.
Additionally, many of the working Moms I talk to admit that they work because staying home makes them crazy. I understand those moments, I had them too, but I found my children endlessly fascinating, and I don't understand Moms who don't.
susie
Yep.
I've seen a lot of changes in my 30 years as a Montessori teacher. The failure to bond is real. Years ago little girls would usually say they wanted to be a "mommy" when they grew up.
Now they say they want to be a babysitter.
You would expect better grammar from the Brits.
My very liberal child psych prof years ago said that studies showed that kids actually did better in smaller, mixed age groups (like extended families would be in pre-industrial societies) than they did in larger same age groups.
susie
How very scientific. Have you written any papers or done any studies on the subject? I'd love to see what you've published.
This is a rather gray area.
When my children were under 5, I babysat other kids, or worked parttime jobs, and then my mom babysat. That gave them time with Grandma, with me still being there the majority of the time.
Both of my sisters worked full time, and used daycare, and their children turned out great.
I know it's a cliche, but I do think it's the QUALITY time that counts. What good is a mom who stays home with her kids......and surfs the net all day, or watches tv, and doesn't give her children much attention, if any.
At the beginning I decided not to accept any students under age three in our school. Their distress (in the form of ear-splitting shreiks) was so obvious and so painful for me, a mother too, that I did my little part by setting an age limit. We also tried to steer parents in the direction of in-home babysitters rather than large daycare centers which have continually rotating personnel.
Exactly. My children are nurtured both at daycare and at home.
Not all daycare centers are the same. You've issued a sweeping indictment here . . . and a rather unscientific one to boot.
This is all fine and well if you believe the purpose of life is to be high achievers and better earners. I notice there's no response to the mental health issues, anorexia, etc.
They brought their children with them and the children learned as they lived.
I know some people face that dilemma, but I can tell you this.... I stayed home and raised my two during their formative years.
Today both of them are outstanding, well adjusted (kind of :), and great parents and citizens. I wouldn't take $100,000,000,000 for our history, those memories, and our loving relationship today.
I would say you are not a parent. Or the truth of that "opinion" would be self-evident.
Quantity has a quality of its own. I think the word the "professionals" use is "bonding." Your children are going to be like those they spend time around - and most like those they spend the most time around. Personally, I always thought it better that my kids model adult behavior, rather than childish or adolescent behavior. You get what you put in.
Nobody's making any "sweeping indictments."
There is a crucial period for emotional development between birth and the age of 30 months. It's just an unfortunate fact that it is much more difficult for a group daycare to provide a one-on-one nurturing environment than it is for a parent, grandparent, or a babysitter.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.