Long day-care may harm kids: paediatrician

#1047 for broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 15 Mar 2015

In 2006, U.S. neuroscientist Professor Allan Shore and Australian author Steve Biddulph were among 110 signatories to a letter published in the London Telegraph, warning of the effects of enrolling very young children in long-day care centres.

Lead author Sir Richard Bowlby said it was more difficult for a daycare nursery than it is for a mother, father or grandparent to provide an environment where kids develop normal emotions.

Canberra paediatrician Dr Sue Packer claimed last year that leaving babies in long-day care can be a form of child abuse.

She said leaving very young children in childcare for many hours a week was more damaging than smacking, since it reduced parent-child interaction that plays a key role in infant brain development.

Many working parents have little choice but to use long-day care centres. It may be quality rather than quantity of parent-child contact that makes the difference. We do what we can.

I’m Rod Benson for the NSW Council of Churches.