Dear Mem,

Your recent foray into the childcare debate has been both controversial and revealing.

You first claimed that very young babies in full time child care is tantamount to child abuse. You then claimed that you had not intended to offend anyone but were simply speaking up for the babies who cannot speak for themselves.

In response to your critics, you said that feeling threatened, enraged and in denial is ‘normal’ when faced with an uncomfortable truth. And you accused your critics of ‘shooting the messenger’.

But Mem, there would be no need to ‘shoot the messenger’ if the messenger had not ‘shot from the hip’.

To suggest that today’s working parents place ‘their needs and their situations’ above their babies is inflammatory and misguided.

I don’t know any parent who does not want the absolute best for their children. The so called ‘choices people have to make’ are not made lightly, selfishly, nor independently of peer or public opinion.

From my experience, it is not the baby’s needs that are the elephant in the room, it’s the parents’ needs.

Modern day parents are riddled with guilt and anxiety, and are struggling to give their children the best opportunities, pay the mortgage, and fulfill their personal aspirations.

From the first positive pregnancy test, parents are bombarded with information, guidance and advice about what is ‘best for baby’.

‘Eat iron rich foods; don’t eat soft cheeses. Don’t let your baby cry; let your baby cry. Don’t put your child in child care; put your child in child care.’

Confident and committed parents raise confident and contented kids. But the advice, even when well intentioned, often serves to undermine parents’ confidence and affects their better judgment.

Your ‘child care is child abuse’ comments, even if paraphrasing a child care professional, serve as more grist to the parent guilt mill.

We need an honest, open and productive debate about the work family intersection but Mem, your comments, were unhelpful.

Instead, let’s discuss:

1. How the vast majority of parents prefer to care for their young babies at home, as according to 2005 ABS statistics, only 7% of children in formal childcare (long day care, family day care, with a registered nanny) are under twelve months old, and 47% of children under 12 months attend childcare for 10 hours or less a week.

2. How, Australia, along with the United States, is one of the few modernized, Western democracies without a paid maternity leave system, which would help families defer their return to work.

3. How un-family friendly workplace cultures and structures penalize women and men who take time out of the workforce or want to work part-time when their children are young by limiting their career aspirations and reducing their income potential.

4. And how, definitive research conducted by work family pioneer Ellen Galinsky from the Families and Work Institute in the US showed that what affects attachment between mother and child is not mothers’ working or children in child care but whether the mother is warm and responsive. According to Galinsky, ‘When mothers are doing what they think is right for themselves and their families, children prosper.’
Debates around child care, working parents, and working mothers in particular, are emotionally wrought and highly charged.

The decisions families make are complex and complicated, and are not without emotional anguish.

Parents go ‘out on a limb’ everyday to manage the challenges and stresses of caring for their family the best way they know how.

If anything gives, it is the parent’s wellbeing.

By supporting rather than harassing parents, and focusing on effective public policy, we can help parents love and care for their children.

So Mem, my message to you, is next time you decide to weigh in on the child care debate do so with compassion for all involved - babies and parents included.

Jodie Benveniste

Director and Founder of Parent Wellbeing

The recent comments in Adelaide’s Sunday Mail by leading children’s author Mem Fox have caused an almighty uproar. And rightfully so!

Mem Fox author of such children’s classics as Possum Magic and Where is the Green Sheep? described child care for young children as tantamount to ‘child abuse’ and something that Australia would look back on with regret.

As a childcare professional and mother I do believe that the ideal situation for a child of six weeks is to be at home with Mum or Dad but I do not believe that if that child should need to go into care that it is equal to child abuse!

The comments made by Mem Fox are offensive on so many levels. To mothers, fathers and families and to child care providers around the country.

First let’s look at some facts.

According to a study undertaken by the Bureau of Statistics in 2005, the percentage of children under the age of 1 year in formal childcare (long day care, family day care, with a registered nanny) was just 7%. That is 7% of all children in childcare.

And 47% of children under 1 year attended childcare for 10 hours a week or less.

So there are very few babies in full time care in Australia.

From my perspective as a childcare worker, who for 10 years worked in infant and toddler rooms, I have only ever had one baby under 3 months in my care and that child was in for 3 days a week. Not full time care.

There has been ongoing debate about whether child care is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for children.

A recent Edith Cowan University study, undertaken by Dr Margaret Sims, measured levels of cortisol (a hormone resulting from stress) in 156 selected children from 16 centres.

While children from caring homes were stressed when placed in poor-quality care centres, stress levels did decline in children from disadvantaged homes, despite the low levels of care.

Good quality centres positively affected children from both types of homes, with the stress levels of disadvantaged children falling drastically. Sims states:

‘I don’t want to say poor-quality child care is OK because it’s not. But for some children poor-quality child care is better than what they’re getting at home. If they go into really good quality care, however, you see an even bigger drop in their cortisol levels.’

So the research shows that high quality care is good for children.

Although I believe Mem Fox’s comments to be inflammatory and quite unfounded, they do raise the point about the importance of quality childcare and paid maternity leave in Australia.

If there was a system of government sponsored paid maternity leave in Australia, fewer young children would need to be in childcare.

And when the government and society fully recognizes the importance of high quality early childhood care, child/ staff ratios would be lowered and child care workers would be paid a better wage which would attract more people to the profession, lower staff turnover and encourage more child care workers to become qualified.

Again, good quality child care can have excellent benefits for children. When we recognize that quality is so much more important than profit, major improvements can be made in the early childhood sector.

In my experience, child care workers are quite a selfless bunch. They work in a profession that can be highly stressful, emotionally demanding and is poorly paid and they do it because they love the children and families they work with. Mem Fox’s comments are insulting to both childcare workers and the children’s parents.

And most importantly, mothers and fathers do not need to suffer the guilt that Mem Fox heaps upon them.
To say that children are only in childcare so their parents can gain financially and materialistically is naïve, short sighted and out of touch.

In these tough economic times many families need duel incomes just to keep up with interest rate increases and basic costs of living. For many families it’s not about handbags and holidays.

There is also the plain fact that parents often need to be someone else beside a parent. We know that work can provide stimulation for parents increasing their wellbeing and happiness. And parents who are happy pass that happiness onto their children.

Parenting can be a tough job; a break from your children can be a haven in your week and sometimes another point of view or opinion from a qualified person can be a real bonus. This is one of the benefits that child care can offer - another person gets to know you and your child and that person can help you better care for your child. It’s can be a win - win situation for parents and children.

I’d like to finish off with comments made to The Australian by Maxine McKew, Parliamentary Secretary for Early Education and Child Care on the statements made by Mem Fox:

“Who needs another guilt trip? That would be my first comment. The fact that more women than ever are in the workforce, having babies and more children than ever are in formal childcare is an extraordinary vote of confidence in the system,” she said.

“Something like 57 per cent of women are back in the workforce by the time their child is 18 months of age. Now Australian women aren’t stupid, they make discerning decisions about the quality of care that they have for their children.

“There’s an inflammatory side to her comments which as I say, I hope sensible women will ignore her comments quite frankly.”

Thanks Maxine. I agree wholeheartedly!

Emma Anderson
Childcare professional and mother

The productivity council has been meeting to discuss maternity leave and whether there should be government funded or workplace funded leave for all working women in Australia. Different people and groups have spoken for and against and there have been many interesting arguments. The welfare of young children and women has been discussed widely, as has productivity.

For me the most interesting argument for paid maternity leave is childcare. In most areas of Australia at the moment there is a massive shortage of places in baby rooms. In our tough economic climate more women are going back to work earlier and many are leaving their young babies in childcare. If paid maternity were to be introduced it may just take the pressure off the childcare shortage. And as quality childcare centres lobby for better staff to child ratios, this reprieve may allow this to happen. Interesting…

Emma Anderson, Childcare Professional and Mum to Jasper.

The Child Care Tax Rebate for child care costs will increase from 30% to 50%, up to $7,500 per child; and paying the rebate quarterly, rather than annually. It is apparently not means tested. Quarterly payments provide more timely assistance to families with their child care costs, with the first payments due from October 2008.

The Federal Government has a new website for the Office of Early Childhood Education and Child Care - http://www.oececc.gov.au/default.htm  - You can subscribe to an email that will provide you with updates on the latest Government initiatives relating to education and child care. Maxine McKew is responsible for this portfolio.

Kate Sykes
Founder and Director
www.careermums.com.au
P: (02) 6161 0128 | M: 0400 823 914
Email: info@careermums.com.au
Blog: http://familyandworkflexiblity.blogspot.com

I’m sitting here contemplating the irony. I’ve worked as a Childcare Professional for years and have told many parents desperate for care that the waiting list is long or even full. And here I am, trying to get childcare and I’m being told I’m on the waiting list!

I now understand how difficult and even distressing this can be. It is such a hard situation. The previous government told us that there isn’t a childcare shortage, that there were plenty of places. And apparently there are but just finding a place is not the only thing I’m looking for when it comes to childcare.

I could find a place for my son very easily but it would probably be in a centre that didn’t suit us! I’m looking for quality and a place where my son and my partner and I feel at home. I want my son to feel loved, nurtured and cared for. I want the environment to feel warm and friendly. I want to feel that my partner and my input is valued. I want it to feel a little bit like home. And I don’t think that is too much to ask!

Friends have asked me how you know when you’ve found the right centre for you and your child? What I look for when I first walk in to any centre are these things:

Staff greet you and your child warmly and make you feel welcome. The children in the room are content and if they are not then there is a staff member helping them. You cannot expect that a childcare centre will always be happy and fun but when it isn’t, you want to feel sure that the unsettled children are being responded to with warmth. Is there a range of resources for the children to explore? Do staff follow your home routine when it comes to sleep, food etc. Can I drop in and visit? What qualifications does the staff team have? Is the centre accredited?

And if these answers come up to scratch I go on my gut feeling. If the staff are friendly, the space safe, fun and engaging and if it feels good it may be the centre for my child. And me.

Emma Anderson is a qualified Children’s Services Professional and is currently on the executive of the South Australian Chapter of Early Childhood Australia. She has an eight month old son Jasper.