Dear Nick Clegg, Do You Know the Implications of Childcare?

[Ali Admin]

Brilliant stuff from Milli Hill in the Huff Post. Follow her on Twitter @themulesmouth.

Dear Nick Clegg, Do You Know the Implications of Childcare?

You recently announced your plans for childcare to be made the coalition government's highest priority social policy, with a massive expansion in nursery places and the recruitment of 65000 new childcare workers. You shared your vision for 'teaching' children as young as two and preparing them for educational success, and, while you were at it, you pledged to take on those with the "sepia-tinted 1950s" view that mothers should not work.

Mothers today often do not feel valued in their role, and a world which takes your view that they can be easily replaced by relatively low waged nursery workers only serves to reinforce this. Interestingly, I don't feel particularly undervalued, and I put this down to my former job. As a therapist, I spent a lot of time playing, painting, reading stories, or just sitting quietly and attentively watching another person create. Of course it never occurred to me to worry that my work was not of value - I was being paid!

Your policy plans imply that a child will develop in much the same way whether they spend their days with a mother or a paid worker, and that perhaps a child might even be better off in a nursery, where they can be 'educated'. To see child development in this way is utterly ill-informed, and cannot be forgiven in a leading policy maker.

[Earthtracer]

An excellent article. However, the commentators on something called Mumsnet - who are these people? - seem to think it is poison.

Clegg is a numpty and is only where he is because the Tories failed utterly to win hearts and minds of voters before the last election, in spite of the totally disastrous Bliar-Broon premierships preceeeding it.

There are of course many facets to this debate and everyone's personal circumstances are different. Nevertheless Milly starts from a commonsense standpoint and - hurrah! - is not 'politically correct'!