Well, today is the release of Expelled. It is opening in over 1000 theaters nation wide making it a pretty hot indie. (Fahrenheit 9/11 opened with 868.)
On Wednesday, our creation science group at church had a chance to talk about creation/evolution with the high school youth group. We also go to play the trailer and give out 4 tickets to see the movie this weekend. The room was packed and they put out two more rows of chairs. I was really glad to see the level of interest.
I am excited to see what happens because of this. God, please bless the producers and Ben Stein. Go see this movie everyone.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Parental Rights Co-sponsor
ParentalRights.org has made a short video asking for citizen co-sponsors of the Parental Rights Amendment.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Compassion Forum
I didn't see and don't know anything about the Compassion Forum. (Except that Sen. John McCain didn't show, which makes me like him even less.) But here is FRC's take on it, and I would love to hear your opinions.
It was meant to be a dialogue about faith in the public square, but last night's "Compassion Forum," broadcast by CNN and hosted by Messiah College, may have revealed more about the agenda of those within the ranks of religious liberals than it did about this year's presidential candidates. While the event was endorsed by pro-family champions like former Senator Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee, organizations like FRC, which have historically addressed faith issues, were not invited to participate or even submit questions to the candidates. Instead, the event's radical board, which included pro-abortion and homosexual advocates, used the forum as an opportunity to chip away at the traditional agenda of the faith-based community. The bulk of last night's program was taken directly from the playbook of the Religious Left, focusing not on the issues closest to Christians' hearts but on climate change, AIDS, and global poverty. Although I have argued that those are important issues that demand the church's attention (in fact, in concert with Bishop Harry Jackson I've written an entire book on the subject), our priority as Christians should be as those of the Founding Fathers; protect the sanctity of human life, preserve marriage, and defend religious liberty. Unfortunately, with the help of some of our friends, the Religious Left is trying to realign, and thereby dilute, the values voter message. Have the concerns of our day changed? Yes, of course. But the prioritization of those issues must not. As our own Declaration of Independence states, it is for "life" and "liberty" not "global warming" that government was instituted among men. As Democrats vie for the Christian vote, we must remember that it is not the church that should be affected by their message. Rather, their message should be affected by a faithful church.
It was meant to be a dialogue about faith in the public square, but last night's "Compassion Forum," broadcast by CNN and hosted by Messiah College, may have revealed more about the agenda of those within the ranks of religious liberals than it did about this year's presidential candidates. While the event was endorsed by pro-family champions like former Senator Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee, organizations like FRC, which have historically addressed faith issues, were not invited to participate or even submit questions to the candidates. Instead, the event's radical board, which included pro-abortion and homosexual advocates, used the forum as an opportunity to chip away at the traditional agenda of the faith-based community. The bulk of last night's program was taken directly from the playbook of the Religious Left, focusing not on the issues closest to Christians' hearts but on climate change, AIDS, and global poverty. Although I have argued that those are important issues that demand the church's attention (in fact, in concert with Bishop Harry Jackson I've written an entire book on the subject), our priority as Christians should be as those of the Founding Fathers; protect the sanctity of human life, preserve marriage, and defend religious liberty. Unfortunately, with the help of some of our friends, the Religious Left is trying to realign, and thereby dilute, the values voter message. Have the concerns of our day changed? Yes, of course. But the prioritization of those issues must not. As our own Declaration of Independence states, it is for "life" and "liberty" not "global warming" that government was instituted among men. As Democrats vie for the Christian vote, we must remember that it is not the church that should be affected by their message. Rather, their message should be affected by a faithful church.
Monday, April 14, 2008
My Plea to Parents Part 3
My final plea to parents is do not embitter, exasperate, provoke, etc. your children. (Eph. 6:4 and Col. 3:21) This is the evidence I have gathered that separation from parents (especially Mother) when younger than 3 or 4 does all of these things. Please do not leave your precious little babies or toddlers with others for more than 20 hours a week.
Early Childcare: Infants and Nations at Risk by Dr. Peter Cook, ©1996, Part Three, Research into Outcomes of Early child Care; Chapter 5, Six Subsequent Studies Showing Risks, P102
A Swedish study of infants' reactions in child care.
...Dr Ingrid Harsman (1984, 1994) studied the reactions of infants before and after placement in day care centres in Stockholm. Her study is important because it may be unique in its scope and qualities and it was done in the capital of the country with the world's best day care (Sweden).
...52 per cent of the day-care infants...were assessed as sad and depressed in the day-care setting.
..."after seven weeks of day-care attendance, the day-care infants showed a significant drop in speech development...
P105
Fear on nursery care (daycare) forces rethink by Madeleine Bunting, The Guardian, 8-Jul-04
In the UK, a government-funded study by the University of London's Institute of Education concluded that "high levels of group care (day care) before the age of three (and particularly before the age of two) were associated with higher levels of antisocial behaviour at age three". It also found that while higher quality of care could reduce the "antisocial/worried behaviour", it could not eliminate it.
Category = Behavior
Nursery Tales by Madeleine Bunting, The Guardian, 8-Jul-04
But the popularity of this revolution is at odds with what the experts are saying. Over exactly the time period that the sector has boomed, research on both sides of the Atlantic has reached remarkably similar conclusions; namely, that large quantities of care in a day nursery (daycare) before the age of three increases the incidence of insecurity and aggression
(Child development expert Penelope Leach) chooses her battles carefully, but she believes the day nursery (daycare) debate is one she now has to get into. Since 1998, she has been co-director of the largest ever UK study of childcare from birth to school age, Families, Children and Child Care (FCCC).
...initial findings fit with those from other studies in the US and the UK: "It is fairly clear from data from different parts of the world that the less time children spend in group care before three years, the better. Infants spending as little as 12 hours a week in day nurseries - this is such a low threshold that it covers almost all infants in this childcare setting - showed slightly lower levels of social development and emotional regulation (less enthusiastic cooperation, concentration, social engagement and initiative) as toddlers.
The two biggest longitudinal* studies in the world on the impact of childcare on infants have come to strikingly similar conclusions. In America, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) published conclusions last summer that were remarkably similar to those of the UK study, the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE). Both make for uncomfortable reading.
...The EPPE study focused predominantly on the impact of pre-school education on three- and four-year-olds.
...buried in the small print it (the EPPE study) acknowledged that "high levels of group care before the age of three (and particularly before the age of two) were associated with higher levels of anti-social behaviour at age three"
*Longitudinal = Over a long period of time
Daycare bad for kids aged under 2?, The Straits Times (Singapore), 9-Jul-2004
LONDON - The British government is reconsidering its strategy on childcare in the face of mounting evidence that day nurseries for children under two can lead to increased incidence of antisocial behaviour and aggression.
...remarkably similar findings (of researchers around the world) indicate that group-based care can have damaging effects on emotional and social development for the under-two age group.
These effects are evident even in children who are in daycare for as little as 12 hours a week, some studies have found.
Raising a Wild Child
Is daycare preparing toddlers to become bullies?
Christianity Today, June 11, 2001
Problem behavior in children, ranging from rudeness to cruelty and physical attack is in the media spotlight because of two new research reports from the NICHD. According to this research, these problem behaviors increase as children (age 4.5 to 6) spend more hours in child care, regardless of the quality of the care.
...There seems to be no threshold. As hours increase, aggressive behavior increases.
...Researchers also reported that bullying is widespread in American schools, says Duane Alexander, NICHD director, "and the bullies themselves are more likely to engage in criminal behavior later in life."
...In many communities, churches are leading providers of (daycare) services to children. But a church-based preschool (day care) that graduates a Scripture-quoting bully into kindergarten hasn't accomplished very much.
Church leaders should honestly ask themselves: If this research about child aggression stands the test of time, how should we balance the needs for quality childcare with the risk that the care provided increases aggression in many young children?
Vive la Differénce! by Allan Carlson, National Review, 12-Jul-2004, p48 (Book review of Steven E. Rhoads' book, Taking Sex Differences Seriously)
Regarding day care, for example, Rhoads reports that "two-career families who put children in subsidized day care apparently produce a near tripling of the odds that these children will be disobedient and aggressive -- hardly a trend the government should support financially."
Early Childcare: Infants and Nations at Risk by Dr. Peter Cook, ©1996, Part Three, Research into Outcomes of Early child Care; Chapter 5, Six Subsequent Studies Showing Risks, P102
A Swedish study of infants' reactions in child care.
...Dr Ingrid Harsman (1984, 1994) studied the reactions of infants before and after placement in day care centres in Stockholm. Her study is important because it may be unique in its scope and qualities and it was done in the capital of the country with the world's best day care (Sweden).
...52 per cent of the day-care infants...were assessed as sad and depressed in the day-care setting.
..."after seven weeks of day-care attendance, the day-care infants showed a significant drop in speech development...
P105
Fear on nursery care (daycare) forces rethink by Madeleine Bunting, The Guardian, 8-Jul-04
In the UK, a government-funded study by the University of London's Institute of Education concluded that "high levels of group care (day care) before the age of three (and particularly before the age of two) were associated with higher levels of antisocial behaviour at age three". It also found that while higher quality of care could reduce the "antisocial/worried behaviour", it could not eliminate it.
Category = Behavior
Nursery Tales by Madeleine Bunting, The Guardian, 8-Jul-04
But the popularity of this revolution is at odds with what the experts are saying. Over exactly the time period that the sector has boomed, research on both sides of the Atlantic has reached remarkably similar conclusions; namely, that large quantities of care in a day nursery (daycare) before the age of three increases the incidence of insecurity and aggression
(Child development expert Penelope Leach) chooses her battles carefully, but she believes the day nursery (daycare) debate is one she now has to get into. Since 1998, she has been co-director of the largest ever UK study of childcare from birth to school age, Families, Children and Child Care (FCCC).
...initial findings fit with those from other studies in the US and the UK: "It is fairly clear from data from different parts of the world that the less time children spend in group care before three years, the better. Infants spending as little as 12 hours a week in day nurseries - this is such a low threshold that it covers almost all infants in this childcare setting - showed slightly lower levels of social development and emotional regulation (less enthusiastic cooperation, concentration, social engagement and initiative) as toddlers.
The two biggest longitudinal* studies in the world on the impact of childcare on infants have come to strikingly similar conclusions. In America, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) published conclusions last summer that were remarkably similar to those of the UK study, the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE). Both make for uncomfortable reading.
...The EPPE study focused predominantly on the impact of pre-school education on three- and four-year-olds.
...buried in the small print it (the EPPE study) acknowledged that "high levels of group care before the age of three (and particularly before the age of two) were associated with higher levels of anti-social behaviour at age three"
*Longitudinal = Over a long period of time
Daycare bad for kids aged under 2?, The Straits Times (Singapore), 9-Jul-2004
LONDON - The British government is reconsidering its strategy on childcare in the face of mounting evidence that day nurseries for children under two can lead to increased incidence of antisocial behaviour and aggression.
...remarkably similar findings (of researchers around the world) indicate that group-based care can have damaging effects on emotional and social development for the under-two age group.
These effects are evident even in children who are in daycare for as little as 12 hours a week, some studies have found.
Raising a Wild Child
Is daycare preparing toddlers to become bullies?
Christianity Today, June 11, 2001
Problem behavior in children, ranging from rudeness to cruelty and physical attack is in the media spotlight because of two new research reports from the NICHD. According to this research, these problem behaviors increase as children (age 4.5 to 6) spend more hours in child care, regardless of the quality of the care.
...There seems to be no threshold. As hours increase, aggressive behavior increases.
...Researchers also reported that bullying is widespread in American schools, says Duane Alexander, NICHD director, "and the bullies themselves are more likely to engage in criminal behavior later in life."
...In many communities, churches are leading providers of (daycare) services to children. But a church-based preschool (day care) that graduates a Scripture-quoting bully into kindergarten hasn't accomplished very much.
Church leaders should honestly ask themselves: If this research about child aggression stands the test of time, how should we balance the needs for quality childcare with the risk that the care provided increases aggression in many young children?
Vive la Differénce! by Allan Carlson, National Review, 12-Jul-2004, p48 (Book review of Steven E. Rhoads' book, Taking Sex Differences Seriously)
Regarding day care, for example, Rhoads reports that "two-career families who put children in subsidized day care apparently produce a near tripling of the odds that these children will be disobedient and aggressive -- hardly a trend the government should support financially."
Sunday, April 13, 2008
My Plea to Parents Part 2
With the encouragement of one anonymous, "You are nuts," I continue with my plea.
Be affectionate with your kids. By this I mean: The warm fuzzy sense of love. Parents (adoptive or natural) are the only people that can love a child completely. They are the only ones that think their baby is the cutest, smartest, best baby in the world. No baby sitter (though they may be called teachers, care-givers, etc.) can feel that way about every child they care for no matter how well intentioned they are. Here are some quotes and clips about how daycare can effect a small child emotionally.
Early Childcare: Infants and Nations at Risk by Dr. Peter Cook, ©1996, P52
Unintended consequences of early child care
"High quality" or often just "quality" care is supposed to be sufficient for up to 10 hours of the infant's day, five days a week for up to five years by the age of five. If this is "educare", what is an infant boy or girl learning about the world, its people and his or her place in it? A professional relationship cannot require attachment, intimacy, kissing, cuddling and love, nor even much carrying, let alone the comfort of breastfeeding.
Tina Blue
January 21, 2001
This is an important point, you know. No matter how affectionate and well-meaning your daycare provider may be--and many of us care far more than is justified by our poor wages and impossible working conditions--your child is not her child, and there will always be a difference (sometimes subtle, sometimes not) between the way a daycare provider relates to a child and the way the child's own mother would respond to that child.
Besides, one thing a daycare provider cannot do for your child is convince him that he is the most important thing in the world to his parents. Only the parents can do that--and leaving the child in someone else's care for nine to eleven hours five or six days a week is not the best way to convey that message to him.
Pasted from <http://www.childrensneeds.homestead.com/daycare1.html>
posted by "carmody"
on freerepublic.com forum:
"Is Daycare Good for Kids?"
11-May-2000
I worked in 2 different daycares after I graduated college. I got out because it was too heartbreaking. At one (daycare) I was told do not sit the children on your lap to read to them or otherwise hug them etc. because then they'll all want to be hugged and the staff didn't want to be bothered.
...In my neighborhood there is a woman who is the "babysitter". She has a nice business. Lots of kids. All the moms are so happy with her. Sometimes, some of the kids play with my kids. Once, a 5 year old by sat in my living room, slumped in a chair, and calmly blurted out to my children ... "you are so lucky. You get to stay home and play with your own toys." He's been at this woman's home since he was 6 weeks old. Everyday. Up at 6 and in her home by 7:30. Waiting for his mom to come and get him.
...No one loves a child like his mother... no one. No one thinks your child is cute. No one thinks your child is that special. Only a mother feels intense pride and joy at every cute thing a baby does. And you will never be able to pay anyone to love your baby...not like you do.
Day Care:
Just Say No!
Rachel Green Knuese
Mommy Minute
Canyon News
canyongossip.com
01-Jan-02
I was in college and worked at a few day care centers to help cover the tuition.
...For daycare teachers, it is a job. These are not their children with whom they share their hearts and souls. For the most part, the teachers I observed were "caring" but I would not go so far as to say that they were "loving". Only a parent (adoptive or biological) can truly be loving to a child. There were children who I adored and maybe at that time I would have said that I loved them. I felt that way with many of the students I had when I taught 7th grade as well. However, since then, I've had two sons. I realize that any warm, fuzzy feelings I had toward children I worked with are totally eclipsed by the depth and breadth of love I have for my own children. This is a significant point because a teacher can not care for a child as well as a parent can.
e-mail to DayCaresDontCare.org from "Diane"
20-Apr-04
I want to thank you for a great website.
When I was in college, I worked in one of the "good" daycare centers. The facilities at this very expensive daycare were impressive and up-to-date. We carefully obeyed all of the regulations, conducted regular fire drills, constantly inspected the rooms and equipment for safety, and everything was kept extremely clean. The owner was a genuinely nice lady who wanted to provide the best possible care for children. The ratio rules were stringently enforced: 1-4 in the infant room, 1-5 for the toddlers, etc.
None of these things impressed the babies who were left with us all day long. There was a six-week-old baby who was dropped off at 6:00 a.m. and picked up by her exhausted parents at 6:00 p.m. every day. 12 hours without her parents. The worker in her room referred to her as "a crier", because she was constantly wound up and upset. Then there was the four-year-old boy whose parents just didn't know what to do about the fact that he enjoyed hitting other children. Another child, known as "the biter", regularly bit other children so hard that he broke their tender skin.
If our facilities were so great, why were the children having such problems?We employees were nice enough, at least for the most part. We were just all a little preoccupied with college. Some of my co-workers were preoccupied with their boyfriends-of-the-week. And then there were the weekend party girls, who didn't really like kids, but needed to have some sort of income. We were all there for the paycheck. Not because we loved children. And as is the norm for these types of places, the turnover rate was very, very high.
I now have two children of my own, and I wouldn't dream of leaving them in a daycare facility. I would even extend my criticism to after-school programs for elementary aged children. I think kids need a parent in the house after school.
Anyway, thank you again for your website. I've been saying these things for years.
Nurseries are safe and secure - but are they bad for your baby?
by Rebecca Abrams,
The Daily Telegraph, (UK)
6-Dec-03
It was an eye-opening experience. Or perhaps I should say an eye-shutting one, for it didn't make pleasant viewing.
In the centre of the room, a five-month-old baby was crying with frustration. Stranded on his back, he couldn't yet turn over by himself. In the corner, a little girl of about seven months sat and stared into the middle distance. She made no demands for attention and got none.
Then there was the boy of nearly one, picked up like a sack of Pampers and carted off to be changed. Clothes removed, bottom wiped, new nappy (diaper) put on in three minutes flat. All this was done with exemplary efficiency - all done without a single word or smile from the young woman doing the changing, the entire operation carried out as impersonally as if she'd been loading the dishwasher.
This was no Romanian orphanage*, but the baby room of a brand new, beautifully appointed private nursery (daycare) in an affluent suburb in the south of England, charmingly located amid majestic chestnut trees. Highly educated adults fight for places here. To stand a chance of getting in, they put their child's name down long before the birth.
The quotidian** neglect I witnessed may not be typical of all nurseries (daycares), but certainly isn't exceptional either. Researchers on one recent British-based study were so distressed by their observations of some baby rooms in day nurseries (daycares) they needed debriefing sessions afterwards.
*Communist dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu's Romanian orphanages were state-run child factories designed to produce compliant subjects for the Romanian military. No consideration was ever given to the developmental needs of the children.
Studies showed that the orphans, sometimes lying quietly and unattended for 18 to 20 hours a day, were severely socially, emotionally and developmentally delayed.
** Quotidian = happening every day
Nurseries are safe and secure - but are they bad for your baby?
by Rebecca Abrams,
The Daily Telegraph, (UK)
6-Dec-03
But one-to-one care is not just nice for babies, it's essential.
...Within an hour of birth, babies are responding to the way they're handled, looked at and talked to. "Still face" experiments with 10-week-old babies, in which mothers don't react in any way, show that babies are highly sensitive and quickly become distressed when a response is absent or inappropriate.
The delicate, finely turned responsiveness that occurs naturally between most mothers and their babies is not only moving to behold, it affects in fundamental ways how babies' brains develop.
...babies don't need socialising and stimulating; they need to be sensitively loved by the people caring for them. Lack of eye contact, lack of baby talk, lack of gentle playful touch: all have long-term consequences
Parenthood by Proxy,
by Dr. Laura C. Schlessinger,
© 2000, p. 101
The bottom line is this: There is just no way that any public or private facility can, for payment of any amount, provide for each individual, unique, developing human being, the relationship bonding, love, touch, care, concern, that a mommy or daddy can for free!
Be affectionate with your kids. By this I mean: The warm fuzzy sense of love. Parents (adoptive or natural) are the only people that can love a child completely. They are the only ones that think their baby is the cutest, smartest, best baby in the world. No baby sitter (though they may be called teachers, care-givers, etc.) can feel that way about every child they care for no matter how well intentioned they are. Here are some quotes and clips about how daycare can effect a small child emotionally.
Early Childcare: Infants and Nations at Risk by Dr. Peter Cook, ©1996, P52
Unintended consequences of early child care
"High quality" or often just "quality" care is supposed to be sufficient for up to 10 hours of the infant's day, five days a week for up to five years by the age of five. If this is "educare", what is an infant boy or girl learning about the world, its people and his or her place in it? A professional relationship cannot require attachment, intimacy, kissing, cuddling and love, nor even much carrying, let alone the comfort of breastfeeding.
Tina Blue
January 21, 2001
This is an important point, you know. No matter how affectionate and well-meaning your daycare provider may be--and many of us care far more than is justified by our poor wages and impossible working conditions--your child is not her child, and there will always be a difference (sometimes subtle, sometimes not) between the way a daycare provider relates to a child and the way the child's own mother would respond to that child.
Besides, one thing a daycare provider cannot do for your child is convince him that he is the most important thing in the world to his parents. Only the parents can do that--and leaving the child in someone else's care for nine to eleven hours five or six days a week is not the best way to convey that message to him.
Pasted from <http://www.childrensneeds.homestead.com/daycare1.html>
posted by "carmody"
on freerepublic.com forum:
"Is Daycare Good for Kids?"
11-May-2000
I worked in 2 different daycares after I graduated college. I got out because it was too heartbreaking. At one (daycare) I was told do not sit the children on your lap to read to them or otherwise hug them etc. because then they'll all want to be hugged and the staff didn't want to be bothered.
...In my neighborhood there is a woman who is the "babysitter". She has a nice business. Lots of kids. All the moms are so happy with her. Sometimes, some of the kids play with my kids. Once, a 5 year old by sat in my living room, slumped in a chair, and calmly blurted out to my children ... "you are so lucky. You get to stay home and play with your own toys." He's been at this woman's home since he was 6 weeks old. Everyday. Up at 6 and in her home by 7:30. Waiting for his mom to come and get him.
...No one loves a child like his mother... no one. No one thinks your child is cute. No one thinks your child is that special. Only a mother feels intense pride and joy at every cute thing a baby does. And you will never be able to pay anyone to love your baby...not like you do.
Day Care:
Just Say No!
Rachel Green Knuese
Mommy Minute
Canyon News
canyongossip.com
01-Jan-02
I was in college and worked at a few day care centers to help cover the tuition.
...For daycare teachers, it is a job. These are not their children with whom they share their hearts and souls. For the most part, the teachers I observed were "caring" but I would not go so far as to say that they were "loving". Only a parent (adoptive or biological) can truly be loving to a child. There were children who I adored and maybe at that time I would have said that I loved them. I felt that way with many of the students I had when I taught 7th grade as well. However, since then, I've had two sons. I realize that any warm, fuzzy feelings I had toward children I worked with are totally eclipsed by the depth and breadth of love I have for my own children. This is a significant point because a teacher can not care for a child as well as a parent can.
e-mail to DayCaresDontCare.org from "Diane"
20-Apr-04
I want to thank you for a great website.
When I was in college, I worked in one of the "good" daycare centers. The facilities at this very expensive daycare were impressive and up-to-date. We carefully obeyed all of the regulations, conducted regular fire drills, constantly inspected the rooms and equipment for safety, and everything was kept extremely clean. The owner was a genuinely nice lady who wanted to provide the best possible care for children. The ratio rules were stringently enforced: 1-4 in the infant room, 1-5 for the toddlers, etc.
None of these things impressed the babies who were left with us all day long. There was a six-week-old baby who was dropped off at 6:00 a.m. and picked up by her exhausted parents at 6:00 p.m. every day. 12 hours without her parents. The worker in her room referred to her as "a crier", because she was constantly wound up and upset. Then there was the four-year-old boy whose parents just didn't know what to do about the fact that he enjoyed hitting other children. Another child, known as "the biter", regularly bit other children so hard that he broke their tender skin.
If our facilities were so great, why were the children having such problems?We employees were nice enough, at least for the most part. We were just all a little preoccupied with college. Some of my co-workers were preoccupied with their boyfriends-of-the-week. And then there were the weekend party girls, who didn't really like kids, but needed to have some sort of income. We were all there for the paycheck. Not because we loved children. And as is the norm for these types of places, the turnover rate was very, very high.
I now have two children of my own, and I wouldn't dream of leaving them in a daycare facility. I would even extend my criticism to after-school programs for elementary aged children. I think kids need a parent in the house after school.
Anyway, thank you again for your website. I've been saying these things for years.
Nurseries are safe and secure - but are they bad for your baby?
by Rebecca Abrams,
The Daily Telegraph, (UK)
6-Dec-03
It was an eye-opening experience. Or perhaps I should say an eye-shutting one, for it didn't make pleasant viewing.
In the centre of the room, a five-month-old baby was crying with frustration. Stranded on his back, he couldn't yet turn over by himself. In the corner, a little girl of about seven months sat and stared into the middle distance. She made no demands for attention and got none.
Then there was the boy of nearly one, picked up like a sack of Pampers and carted off to be changed. Clothes removed, bottom wiped, new nappy (diaper) put on in three minutes flat. All this was done with exemplary efficiency - all done without a single word or smile from the young woman doing the changing, the entire operation carried out as impersonally as if she'd been loading the dishwasher.
This was no Romanian orphanage*, but the baby room of a brand new, beautifully appointed private nursery (daycare) in an affluent suburb in the south of England, charmingly located amid majestic chestnut trees. Highly educated adults fight for places here. To stand a chance of getting in, they put their child's name down long before the birth.
The quotidian** neglect I witnessed may not be typical of all nurseries (daycares), but certainly isn't exceptional either. Researchers on one recent British-based study were so distressed by their observations of some baby rooms in day nurseries (daycares) they needed debriefing sessions afterwards.
*Communist dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu's Romanian orphanages were state-run child factories designed to produce compliant subjects for the Romanian military. No consideration was ever given to the developmental needs of the children.
Studies showed that the orphans, sometimes lying quietly and unattended for 18 to 20 hours a day, were severely socially, emotionally and developmentally delayed.
** Quotidian = happening every day
Nurseries are safe and secure - but are they bad for your baby?
by Rebecca Abrams,
The Daily Telegraph, (UK)
6-Dec-03
But one-to-one care is not just nice for babies, it's essential.
...Within an hour of birth, babies are responding to the way they're handled, looked at and talked to. "Still face" experiments with 10-week-old babies, in which mothers don't react in any way, show that babies are highly sensitive and quickly become distressed when a response is absent or inappropriate.
The delicate, finely turned responsiveness that occurs naturally between most mothers and their babies is not only moving to behold, it affects in fundamental ways how babies' brains develop.
...babies don't need socialising and stimulating; they need to be sensitively loved by the people caring for them. Lack of eye contact, lack of baby talk, lack of gentle playful touch: all have long-term consequences
Parenthood by Proxy,
by Dr. Laura C. Schlessinger,
© 2000, p. 101
The bottom line is this: There is just no way that any public or private facility can, for payment of any amount, provide for each individual, unique, developing human being, the relationship bonding, love, touch, care, concern, that a mommy or daddy can for free!
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