MEDIA RELEASE
1 MAY 2006
Children the big losers with 24 hour childcare
24 hour childcare is claimed to be a reflection of changing working patterns and family arrangements.
“It is more an outcome of selfish parenting and faulty government policy,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of
Family First Lobby. “I sometimes question why adults bother to have children if they aren’t prepared to be parents.”
“Children involve sacrifice, change of lifestyle, and more of a “we” focus than a “me’ focus. That’s family life!
“24 hour childcare is simply parental selfishness. If parents knew the effect of childcare on their children, they would
think again about the level of childcare which has become acceptable within New Zealand.
“As with the no-fault divorce laws, the effect on children of extended childcare has not been seriously considered.
According to 'The Daycare Project' at the University of London, childcare children who went to nurseries before the age
of 9 months for more than 20 hours a week showed evidence of distress and negativism at 18 months and performed less
well on language tests at 3 years, in spite of having parents with higher status jobs and salaries and more
qualifications than other parents.
In a paper presented at 55th annual convention of the Canadian Psychological Association in 1994, a large scale
synthesis from 88 studies concluded that regular non-parental care for more than 20 hours a week had an unmistakably
negative effect on socio-emotional development, behaviour and attachment of young children.
They also estimated that regular non-parental care increased the risk of children developing insecure bonds by 66%.
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development survey reported in Time Magazine Apr 30 2001 found that
children who spend most of their time in childcare were 3x more likely to exhibit behavioural problems as those cared
for by mother. There was a direct correlation between time spent in childcare and aggression, defiance, disobedience,
and demands having to be met immediately. 17% of kids who spend more than 30 hours a day in daycare have aggressive
tendencies by kindergarten.
And recently published research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of British Columbia, revealed
that children in daycare were 17 times more hostile than children raised at home, and almost three times more anxious.
They found that the increased use of childcare was associated with a decrease in their well-being relative to other
children. Reported fighting and other measures of aggressive behaviour increased substantially. These results were
consistent with evidence from the National Institute of Child Health and Development Early Childcare Research Network
(2003), showing that the amount of time through the first 4.5 years of life that a child spends away from his or her
mother is a predictor of assertiveness, disobedience, and aggression.
“Full-time “hands-on”parenting is a child’s right, and a parent’s responsibility! It is also urgent that government
policy and spending allow and encourage parents to fulfil this duty,” says Bob McCoskrie.
ENDS