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Book |
Quote/Comment |
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Early Childcare: Infants
and Nations at Risk by Dr. Peter Cook, ©1996,
Part One, Infants and Their Mothers - Some Aspects of
the Biological Background; Chapter 1,The Species-Normal Experience
for Human Infants - A Biological and Cross-Cultural Perspective,Chapter 1,
P32 |
Since 1951 (with the publication of Maternal
Care and Mental Health by Dr. John Bowlby), the world has been on
notice that total early separation and deprivation of the care which mothers
normally provide can have serious consequences. Bowlby went on, through
ethological, cross-cultural and psychological studies, to develop his major
contributions in his three-volume work Attachment and Loss (Bowlby
1969; 1973; 1981). Yet some advocates of early day care have sought to
dismiss any relevance of this work to long day care, describing it as "Bowlbyism"
Category =
Politics |
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Early Childcare: Infants
and Nations at Risk by Dr. Peter Cook, ©1996, P38 |
Observing Swedish children for five months after
starting day care at ages of 6 to 12 months, (Harsman in 1994) reported that
"52% showed a negative change in mood during the initial period and they
were assessed as sad and depressed in the day-care setting.
Category = Behavior, Quality |
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Early Childcare: Infants
and Nations at Risk by Dr. Peter Cook, ©1996,
Part Two, The Needs of Mothers and their Infants;
Chapter 2, Meeting the Optimum Needs of Infants and their Mothers, P41 |
Child care is being widely promoted
without a critical examination of what is best for the mothers and the
infants whose needs it claims to meet.
Category =
Quality |
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Early Childcare: Infants
and Nations at Risk by Dr. Peter Cook, ©1996, P 41 |
(Dr. Penelope Leach*) reminds us that we
were all children first, and before that we were babies and toddlers, with
important feelings. In the rush to daycare for economic and ideological
reasons, the feelings of those most intimately involved - the mothers and
their young children - have been neglected.
*Dr. Penelope Leach -
Famous British maternal & child expert
Category =
Behavior |
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Early Childcare: Infants
and Nations at Risk by Dr. Peter Cook, ©1996, P 50 |
Why day care centres seldom meet infants'
needs:
Child care was invented for the convenience of adults not the needs or
wishes of children. Research has consistently shown that infants of working
mothers prefer their mothers to their day-care providers, so if a baby's
wants are indeed much the same as its needs, it follows that babies don't
need day centre care. It is self-evident that the quality of care which a
mother can provide for her baby and infant, as described above, cannot be
dependably available from carers* in a day care
centre.
*carers = daycare workers
Category =
Quality |
