Children are Paying the Price for Being Rushed Into Daycare and Nurseries

By Ina Woolcott

Labours urging of mothers to put toddlers in to childcare so that they can go to work is damaging a generation, reveals the governments own research. The major Government study was conducted by a team of researchers from Oxford University and the Institute of Fiscal Studies. The findings, amongst other things are that daycare increases the risk ‘problem behaviour’.

Young children who have to spend hours in nurseries and aren’t looked after by their mums or dads are far more anxious and disruptive. The earlier they start attending nursery, the worse their behaviour becomes. Toddlers who are left in day care for at least 30 hours per week are ‘significantly’ more likely to bully, tease and call other children names, as well as wanting their own way.

Also, they become more worried and upset. In the study, the kids were more prone to pouting, stamping their feet and frowning when asked to try out a new activity. They worried about not getting enough food, drink and toys. The study has been the first of its kind in England, with explosive findings. (Editors note - I wonder how many more they will do now as personally I doubt that the government will encourage mothers NOT to work!)

Holes have been blown into a decade of government policy which has massively expanded childcare to coax parents back to work. Billons of pounds have been put into subsidising nurseries and childminders through the tax credit system, direct daycare benefits and the Sure Start project. End of tax breaks for married couples effectively penalised those deciding to stay at home.

Last year (2006) ministers gloated on the fact that more than 700,000 kids were in a nursery for over 4 hours a day. Over half of all mothers of children under 2 now have full or part time job. However, the drive to further expand childcare has ignited an emotive debate over the impact on children’s development.

The findings of the research prompted critics to describe the growth of ‘institutionalised’ childcare as a tragedy for youngsters. One teacher from Leeds, Cecil Hanlon specialising in pre-school education, warned a union conference that the UK would pay the price with ever increasing anti-social behaviour. She said that children are already killing other children with knives and guns. She also said ‘The message form the government is that as soon as you have had your baby, find your childcare, we will provide it and off you go. Perhaps the government should be thinking more about family friendly jobs rather than making people into job friendly families…there is a lot of concern among early year consultants about very young children in group care. I have seen lots of bewildered looking babies.’ Mrs Hanlon’s union, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, has called for further research into the ‘institutionalisation of children’.

The research findings were published by the Department for Education and Skills. They came from the study of the Neighbourhood Nurseries Initiative, which was launched in 2001, and has so far spent £370million of lottery and public funds on daycare for families in the most poorest areas. By 2005, 1,400 nurseries were set up to help families get back to work.

810 toddlers spread across 100 nurseries were monitored, on average 2 years and 9 months old. The childcare workers were asked to fill out detailed questionnaires on each youngster which allowed researchers to build a picture of their behaviour. Though long hours in daycare built a child’s confidence, with them more likely to enjoy talking, being open and direct in saying what they wanted, it was also linked to worried, upset and anti-social behaviour.

In the report it said ‘In contrast to the positive influence of centre based provisions on children’s sociability and confidence…the amount of time children spent in their childcare centres can also increase behaviour problem. Children who attended for more time every week were rated as more anti social than those attending for less time. Children who attended at least 30 hours a week and/or 3 days every week were rated as more anti-social, for example more likely to tease other children and call them names, to prevent other children from carrying out routines or be bossy and need their own way…children who attended for at least 35 hours and/or 5 days each week displayed more worried and upset behaviours’.

Children who are put into groups with older toddlers displayed less ‘emotional security’ than those looked after with peers of the same age. In the USA research has suggested that anti-social behaviour linked with daycare persists at least into primary school. The new findings have raised dramatic doubts over Government policies. 3 years ago the Department of Trade and Industry - which was then headed by the current health secretary, Patricia Hewitt - described mothers who do not return to work within 2 years of childbirth as a ‘problem’. It said that mothers, or fathers, who stayed at home were not giving the taxpayer a return on the cost of their education!!! (editors comment - talk about blackmail, and also what a cheap excuse to force parents back to work!)

Ministers are still planning to require that every school open for 50 hours a week and offer childcare or after school activities to make it easier for parents to return to work.

Editors comment - for me at least, it is common sense that young children will be far more secure if they have their parent(s) around them as long as possible. In the olden days, men went to work with the women staying at home to spend the day with the child(ren). Children need the people they love the most to raise them, not to be given to strangers to do the job. Of course then they will feel more loved, happy and secure with mum or dad.