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From: lab@qubix.UUCP (Q-Bick)
Newsgroups: net.religion,net.politics,net.kids,net.social
Subject: Re: Kids suffer in Shangri La
Message-ID: <1051@qubix.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 30-Apr-84 11:14:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: qubix.1051
Posted: Mon Apr 30 11:14:40 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 2-May-84 04:26:35 EDT
References: <1027@qubix.UUCP> <2234@hplabsb.UUCP>
Organization: Qubix Graphic Systems, Saratoga, CA
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hplabsc!pc (Patricia Collins):
>"...it is also possible to find many homes where children are mistreated."

"Professional" day care centers won't remove the problem of child abuse
- just eliminate certain possible times.

>"Few parents are knowledgeable about early childhood development."

Then why don't they learn? Not learning is not "fulfilling the commitment."
Now, I don't expect a parent to know *everything* about early childhood
development; neither do I expect a parent to know *everything* about
medical care for a child. There is a time and place for professional
*help* - but is it so continuously and regularly needed?

>"Children of one or two years years old are placed in front of TVs for
>hours at a time."

So are those past that age any better? (I'm glad I don't have one.)

>"Parents who do not ensure that their children receive good care are not
>fulfilling the commitment."

Agreed. But is hiring someone else to do the job full-time really an
answer? I don't think I'm too far off to say that 99+% of the time that
a day-care facility is used that the reason is convenience (read: the
kid interferes with my schedule) rather than "I need someone better than
me." The day will come when the children are too old for child-care.
What will you do then - use the schools as a day-care facility,
something they are constantly misused for, but were never intended to be?

The greatest thing parents can give children is themselves - their
thoughts, their values, their love, their assurance. This is an
investment in both the parents' *and* the children's futures. One of the
greatest confidence boosters children can have is to know that their
parents are proud of them, to see their parents' love for them in action.

Rich Rosen roused the idea of "mother=stay at home and watch the kids"
vs. "self-determination." The latter is simply a rehash of the Me
Generation, where the kids are seen as an extra burden. This was exactly
the point of the letter. The former is a mis-stereotyping I have come to
expect from a certain viewpoint; a better approach is "mother= opportunity
to train the next generation." It is an opportunity to do something which
will continue past her own life, even multiply *within* her own lifetime -
ooh, excuse me, that would go against Rich's "rights end where imposition
on another person begins." :-) Oh well, I guess the state will force us
to put our kids in their day-care centers (wherein teaching the Bible
is an absolute no-no, but horrorscopes, etc., are OK). Ugh.
-- 
				The Ice Floe of Larry Bickford
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