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The Problem with Daycare
by Karl Zinsmeister,
The American Enterprise
May/June 1998, page
20 |
One leading edge in day care
today is special centers that only accept sick children.
...When a youngster who is already feeling bad goes to an ill child center
he is faced with a totally unfamiliar environment, where all the adults and
all the other children are strangers. Instead of bringing extra
security and comfort, his illness thus brings him extra strangeness and
uncertainty. Penelope Leach* puts it
bluntly: "To put a sick baby into a stranger's
hands is cruelty."
In many cases, it is employers who set up these centers. They then
parade them as proof that the company is "family friendly."
[In reality, the company is just trying to save a buck! -- ed.]
One cover story in Fortune chortled that "for sheer
cost-effectiveness, nothing beats a facility for children too sick to go to
school or day care centers.
Susan Wolfe, director of one Minneapolis ill-child center, does the math for
Fortune. When a middle manager...misses a day of work to
minister to a miserable child, it costs the company (First Bank) $154...If,
on the other hand, the employee checks the child into her center at company
expense, it costs the bank only about $20.
Voila! An institution that "saves the company 87
percent, or almost $135 a day."
*Penelope Leach -
famous British maternal
and child expert
Category = Disease, Economics |
The Problem with Daycare
by Karl Zinsmeister,
The American Enterprise
May/June 1998,
page
21 |
Doctors warn that day care centers
have become troublesome sources of health problems. The American
Pediatric Association reckons that infants under one in group care have
eight times as many colds and other infections as babies cared for by their
families. As baby's immune system is not well developed until
about his third month of life, and it does not reach adult-level
disease-fighting capability until around age two. Take this fact, plus
the research finding that an average toddler puts a hand or object in his
mouth every three minutes, and you can see why concentrating together groups
of these drooling, toy-sucking, low-immune children creates an ideal
environment for disease transmission.
Category =
Disease |
The Problem with Daycare
by Karl Zinsmeister,
The American Enterprise
May/June 1998,
page
22 |
A Memphis State University study of
800 children under age three found that compared to youngsters at home,
children in day care centers suffered half again as many infections and
four-and-a-half-times as many hospitalizations. The American
Journal of Public Health has reported that children in day care
centers incur overall medical expenses that are two to three times as high
as those of children cared for at home.
Category =
Disease |
Last updated:
07/03/2011
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