Comments on: The child care racket http://www.empiricist.com/articles/the-child-care-racket/ Science, Technology, Life Tue, 21 Sep 2010 07:41:28 +0000 hourly 1 By: Boy on a bike http://www.empiricist.com/articles/the-child-care-racket/comment-page-1/#comment-129 Boy on a bike Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:06:36 +0000 http://www.empiricist.com/?p=562#comment-129 Both our wee tackers are in family day care. They love it. Our Council has recently put a Nazi in charge of the day care program, and the number of carers has halved. I hope ours hangs on until our kids are at pre-school! She is great. I don't expect her to teach them how to read and write - that is our job, and her kids range from 6 months to 4 years. You can't run a class when the spread of kids is that much. I'm happy if they do "chop-chop" (cutting things with scissors), painting, play-dough, solving puzzles, doing jigsaws, bashing things with hammers, dancing to the Wiggles, chasing the cat, making mudcakes in the sand pit and visiting the park for an hour or two per day when the weather is good for a run around and kick of the ball. The main thing they are getting out of it is being socialised with other kids - sitting at the table together to eat their meals, respecting other kids and their stuff and working co-operatively. They have a good routine, and can't wait to leave the house in the morning to "go to work" as Monkey calls it. I dread the day that Big Brother wants these carers to get a degree. That will be the end of the best childcare option that we have. Both our wee tackers are in family day care. They love it. Our Council has recently put a Nazi in charge of the day care program, and the number of carers has halved. I hope ours hangs on until our kids are at pre-school! She is great.

I don’t expect her to teach them how to read and write – that is our job, and her kids range from 6 months to 4 years. You can’t run a class when the spread of kids is that much. I’m happy if they do “chop-chop” (cutting things with scissors), painting, play-dough, solving puzzles, doing jigsaws, bashing things with hammers, dancing to the Wiggles, chasing the cat, making mudcakes in the sand pit and visiting the park for an hour or two per day when the weather is good for a run around and kick of the ball.

The main thing they are getting out of it is being socialised with other kids – sitting at the table together to eat their meals, respecting other kids and their stuff and working co-operatively. They have a good routine, and can’t wait to leave the house in the morning to “go to work” as Monkey calls it.

I dread the day that Big Brother wants these carers to get a degree. That will be the end of the best childcare option that we have.

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