Hi Mel, Platt, Woods I caught the words Day Care and couldn't resist jumping in.
Quite a number of years ago the cry for Day Care facilities ran high in Holland as well. This was due to essentially 2 things which are linked: a push to increase private home ownership and a push for 'affirmative action'/equal opportunity/ increased female participation in the workplace. The first boosted the private housing market so mortgages went up and up and up...necessitating both parents to work just to keep up with the payments. And the second ( forcing women into the workforce and this process is still going on) necessitating more facilities to look after the children. The Govt. initially (partly) subsidised these DayCare Centres. However, soon it became clear that the staff at these centres were,in many cases, unqualified,kids were neglected, not stimulated etc etc. They had no idea how to look after children! Then the call came to improve standards, not only of the facilities themselves but also of the staff working there. The need for qualified childcare workers. This of course led to an increase in costs of running the Centre, increased wage demands, the value of the (Govt.) subsidies eroded, increasing the financial burden of the parents in a never ending spiral. It is estimated that approx. one quarter of the combined wages earned by the parents goes towards Day Care. Many mothers and fathers want to share the responsibility of looking after their own children but many can't because of the effects of these two policies. These effects extend through to post primary school level where starting and finishing times of primary schools do not coincide with Mum's or Dad's working hours. Hence the need for "Before"- and "After"care facilities..and the circle continues. They create difficult times for parents and children. But on the positive side they have resulted f.ex. in flexi-time arrangements, family-friendly businesses, doing work from your own home (via a computerlink). But being an old-fashioned sort of bloke, I am pro-choice. Parents do not have that choice now despite many wanting to but... well...raising your own children...where is the (short term) economic value in that? Andre Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
