Promise of Childcare Spaces

[Renegade]

That's precisely why education is mainly funded by governments - it is extremely important but people wouldn't be willing to pay for what it's worth.

It is worth what people are willing to pay for. If people aren't willing to pay for it, they shouldn't get it.

[Charles Anthony]

I was the director of an 80 space child care centre for a couple of years. I had weeping mothers on the phone regularly begging me for a spot.

Was it simply a lack of space that prevented your from accepting them?

I'll never forget one dad, a recent immigrant, who didn't understand why I could only take a certain number of children, telling me how quiet his son was, how small he was, he wouldn't be any trouble, could we just find a small spot in the back for him to sit.

Forget about the laws for a moment, do you think it was right to refuse his son?

[Saturn]

That's precisely why education is mainly funded by governments - it is extremely important but people wouldn't be willing to pay for what it's worth.

It is worth what people are willing to pay for. If people aren't willing to pay for it, they shouldn't get it.

People don't get it for themselves - they get it for their children. And they claim to care about their children but would still rather have them share outdated books, sit in cold rooms, and to close the school library in order to get $100 tax cut to blow on beer and popcorn. If people had to pay $10K/yr in school fees, far more kids would be ending up illiterate. Bad for the kids, bad for the economy, bad for the country.

[Charles Anthony]

People don't get it for themselves - they get it for their children.

There is a helpful inversion.

Do people get chicken-pox for their children too?

If people had to pay $10K/yr in school fees, far more kids would be ending up illiterate.

Illiterate? It does not cost that much to learn how to read -- maybe in the Union of Saturn's Satellite Republic it does but not on planet Earth.

[Renegade]

People don't get it for themselves - they get it for their children. And they claim to care about their children but would still rather have them share outdated books, sit in cold rooms, and to close the school library in order to get $100 tax cut to blow on beer and popcorn. If people had to pay $10K/yr in school fees, far more kids would be ending up illiterate. Bad for the kids, bad for the economy, bad for the country.

Personally I don't buy the reason that they don't get it because it's "for their children". Most parents I know would (and do) spend more on their children than they do themselves.

In any case, we trust parents to act as proxies for their children and to act in their best interest. What you are suggesting is that parents don't act in the kids best interests. IMV if the expectation is of parents to provide a minimal standard for their kids (ie proper childcare, shelter, education), then parents should either choose to accept those responsibilites or should choose to not accept the role as a parent.

[Melanie_]

I was the director of an 80 space child care centre for a couple of years. I had weeping mothers on the phone regularly begging me for a spot.

Was it simply a lack of space that prevented your from accepting them?

I'll never forget one dad, a recent immigrant, who didn't understand why I could only take a certain number of children, telling me how quiet his son was, how small he was, he wouldn't be any trouble, could we just find a small spot in the back for him to sit.

Forget about the laws for a moment, do you think it was right to refuse his son?

Accepting his son would have meant skipping over the 150 other children ahead of him on the waiting list - and I didn't have a space open to give him in any case.

I know you aren't a big fan of laws, but I'll outline a few of the regulations that come into play when we are talking about child care spaces. First, the actual amount of physical space determines the number of children that can be there - our regulations state that there needs to be 3.3 square metres per child. This accounts for the floor space the child takes up (fairly small) and the floor space required for toys, equipment and adults to care for the child. So if you have 10 children, you need 33 square metres to accomodate them. You can't just add more children without adding more physical space.

Another regulation is that you need one adult on the floor at all times for every eight children. If a staff person needs to so much as go to the bathroom, someone needs to cover their ratio. Again, adding extra children means you need to add extra adults, and adding one extra child isn't going to work.

Having said that, it isn't just the laws that come into play, but the well being of the children. The child care community is acutely aware of what will enhance or harm children's development, and the regulations simply reinforce what research tells us - children need space, and they need sensitive caregivers who treat them as individuals. We can't just pack them in and warehouse them, we need to give high quality care.