Dr Catherine Conlon: Public childcare good for our society
'We need a system that either allows parents the choice to care for their children at home or to stay in work and place their children in a nurturing childcare environment.' File picture
I WAS one of seven children, born in Dublin in the 1960s. My father was a family doctor, having renovated the garage in our home in Rathfarnham, to act as waiting room and surgery.
My mother answered the phone, made appointments, typed the bills, sewed and knit clothes for her family, baked brown bread and scones every day, and had dinner on the table at one o'clock on the dot to allow for the regimen of family surgeries.
In the early days we had a live-in nanny to help out with the raising of all those children in a very busy household. She organised our clothes and meals, brought us for walks, helped with homework, and a plethora of games and fun for every sort of weather and season.
Why does all this matter? Only to say that we were lucky to have an energetic, enthusiastic mentor in those early years who loved her job, loved kids, loved teaching us about trees, leaves, frogs, ghost stories, books, painting, homemade Christmas decorations, and basically the joy of childhood and the joy of living. She also taught us to share, to be patient and to have fun; all of which made a lifelong imprint on my brain.
My nephew has just arrived in Cork City with his wife, Martha, and one-year-old baby, John. They are both doctors and working in one of the big city hospitals. They found it impossible to get good childcare but eventually managed to find a local girl who would look after John in their home.
The childcare is going to cost Martha almost all of her salary. Where does this leave all those other parents who simply cannot afford childcare? The evidence shows that what happens to children does make a profound difference and it differs by social circumstances.
By the time children get to school, those from lower income groups have already fallen behind in language development. Research investigating the amount of speech addressed to children in the first four years of their life, has found astonishing differences between children coming from privileged, less privileged and deprived backgrounds.
The higher the socioeconomic level of the family, the more words were addressed to children. Children of professional parents had 30m more words addressed to them than children of families on welfare. That’s more than an extra 20,000 words a day.
With these kinds of differences, is it so surprising that children of professional parents have more highly developed verbal skills than children of parents from deprived backgrounds?
Parents from low-income groups were also less likely to consider cuddles and bedtime stories, as well as singing and play, important. Why are we surprised then, when children from deprived backgrounds perform less well from an early age in social skills and emotional resilience?
‘Good parenting’ follows the social gradient.
What gives is the luxury of having the time and emotional energy that it takes to verbalise, play, cuddle, and deal with the dramas of childhood with a similar level of patience and stamina that comes from having a secure home, a good night’s sleep, and the security of knowing that the next pay cheque will come on time to feed the kids and allow them the same opportunities as most of the other kids in their school.
Provision of high-quality services is a major poverty-reduction strategy in itself, giving parents the opportunity to go to work and increase the family income. Ideally, childcare centres should provide multiple supports including parenting programmes and advice on childcare supports.
Early-learning centres allow all children to benefit in cognitive scores, but poorer children benefit more, thereby narrowing the gap between rich and poor.
The early childhood care and education (ECCE) programme is a universal two-year preschool programme available to all children from the age of two years and eight months. The programme is provided for three hours per day.
The early start programme is a pre-primary initiative in areas of designated deprivation. The total number of spaces is 1,650 in 40 early-start centres, five days a week from September until June. There are six centres in Cork City.
Apart from these early childhood programmes, education is delivered in Ireland by a diverse range of private, community, and voluntary interests. There is government investment in these programmes, but, for many, childcare is prohibitively expensive to the extent that many parents cannot afford to stay in the workforce, particularly if they have more than one child.
This, with the high cost of housing, makes the provision of a secure home for many young families, very challenging.
NEW: It's time to keep our promise to children
— Early Childhood Ireland (@EarlyChildhdIRL) July 13, 2021
🧮#Budget2022 is an opportunity to take real and immediate action to increase investment in #EarlyYears & #SchoolAgeCare
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We need a system that either allows parents the choice to care for their children at home or to stay in work and place their children in a nurturing childcare environment. This involves supports to childcare and housing to make both affordable so that children spend their early years in a secure and supported environment right across society.
This is cost-effective in the long term because it leads to better lifelong physical, psychological, and social wellbeing across society and this is good for everyone. Less preventable ill health, better mental health, much less crime. Strong, sustainable communities.
Would a modern equivalent of having an experienced nanny living with the family for the early years be the availability of free childcare for all children, allowing kids the potential to develop to their full social and cognitive capacity? At the same time, free childcare reduces the risk of poverty by giving both parents the opportunity to work or retrain, allowing them to avail of the income, status, and wellbeing that good, well-paid work provides?
- Dr Catherine Conlon is a public health doctor, living and working in Cork city.
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