‘Childcare like maltreating puppies,’ says top childrens' author…..
Yet Fox stands by other remarks that fanned the original furore, including her argument that babies would not "want" the sort of parents who placed them in care at six weeks. "I was the bunny in the headlights; the one who was shot down," she says now. "I was the one (articulating) an inconvenient truth. (But) people are grateful a national conversation has begun."
Last month, she drew howls of protest after she was accused of saying childcare for babies was similar to "child abuse".
Fox claimed that babies aged less than 12 months who were placed in prolonged day care would suffer brain damage.
"Putting babies as young as two-weeks-old into childcare for the first year of their life, for 60 hours a week, will cause their brains damage," Fox said. "For me, the (correlation) is buying a puppy, putting it in kennels for the whole of the week and playing with it at the weekends.
"I couldn't do it to a dog, so I certainly couldn't do it to a child."
However, the Adelaide-based author said she shared no special affinity with small children - especially poorly-behaved ones. "I hate a whiner and whinger - I can't tolerate them. Don't get me started . . . I have very little patience with children."
Where are the facts and experience to back up Mem Fox’s statements? … A person who can not tolerate ‘poorly-behaved children’? A teacher in Drama, with no medical background, qualified to diagnose the cause of brain damage? An author who is not trained in child development from birth, to compare to the development of dogs in a kennel?
As a childcare professional and mum, I am sure you would agree that the industry is highly trained and monitored in development for children from birth. Strict accreditation guidelines monitor childcare centres quality and care on all levels.
One World for Children is a private RTO and Childcare centre that prides themselves on quality training and mentoring both learners and staff in their childcare centre. Leaders in their industry, they provide quality care for each and every child as well as Australia wide in its online training.
As for Fox’s response to controversy on her remarks…. “People are grateful a national conversation has begun."
A tactic to bring author Mem Fox back into the spotlight for publicity? I will let you decide…
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