Childcare

Read with caution, one eyed opinion to follow...

Child care is something I feel rather passionately about. As I imagine many mothers do. To me the best person/people to care for children are their parents. Well at least most of the time, barring drunks, drug addicts and those who willingly neglect the blessings that are sent to them.

I do not believe that children, should be sent to child care centres and quite frankly I struggle to understand how a mother can return to the workforce and leave her six week or even six month old baby in the arms of strangers. Aside from the obvious lack of breastfeeding opportunity it just doesn't seem fair to either party.

I understand each to their own and all that and I know that not all mothers can or want to breastfeed and that is their right and blah blah blah but I am sorry for not truly being able to accept it. To me, part of being a mother is the selflessness. It is waking up at ungodly hours to feed, soothe a new little soul as it adjusts to this world without complaint or grudge. It is going without at times in order to meet the needs of others. It is a devotion and love that can be draining and at times hard but also beautiful and more rewarding than anything else life can possibly throw at you.

As I sat down to write this post, an ad for a forthcoming current affairs show came on the old box. I didn't quite catch all of it but I did manage to here a group of mothers complaining about the rising cost of child care. I could feel my blood begin to boil as I questioned whether these mothers really needed to work especially if they were going to then complain about the excessive cost of paying someone to care for their flesh and blood.

As a society we have been conditioned to believe that self worth is gained through employment. Value as a person is often based on employment levels and achievement. Not nearly enough credit is given to mothers who choose to remain outside the traditional workforce to bring up their children. Instead mothers feel forced to deposit children in mass produced cages each and every day while apparently qualified carers tend to the needs of up to ten children at a time.

Now I must admit that I do know some wonderful people who work in this industry and they are passionate and caring people who genuinely feel for the children that they look after. However they are still not the parents of these children. I guess my biggest gripe with childcare is that to me it defies the point of having children.