Cherish our children

READING your exposé of the deplorable conditions of some of our crèches (October 29/30), and also bearing in mind the wealth of research that indicates crèches are not suitable places for children under three, never was it clearer to me that we need a constitutional referendum to ratify the 1991 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Article 9 says “a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will except when... such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child.”

Separation from the familiar creates anxiety in babies. Small children’s trust and emotional independence grows gradually. Emotionally unattached older children behave in an anti-social way, but if the Government directed funding towards families instead of costly daycare centres, many later behavioural problems could be avoided.