Our scared-silly society robotically recites a litany of kid-killers, among which are attention deficit, profanity exposure, and injected chicken. While everyone’s in a tizzy about childhood inactivity and environmental meltdown, we’re ignoring the true source of danger to kids. And that is daycare.It’s been a busy month for crappy childcare providers. In a Los Angeles facility, police found 14 kilograms of cocaine, 50 pounds of marijuana, and enough guns to arm the Laotian military. All this contraband was located in a toy chest. Among baby dolls and G.I. Joe’s were guns and drugs, and all anyone seems inclined to care about is whether the dolls’ arms were made of lead.
But that’s not all, folks:
A Tennessee nursery was condemned after a 4-month old infant was discovered with a pacifier taped into his mouth.
A Nashville daycare lost a 5-month old. Firefighters later found the baby after ransacking the building to look for him.
A childcare facility in Texas has been closed after parents found thumbtack injuries on their kids’ bodies. Apparently, this daycare took disclipine very seriously.
All of this since September 1.
Preemptively: Some parents do these things too; it’s not just daycare workers who harm kids. I want to be very clear on that point, because that is the predictable comeback I get when I talk about daycare dangers. Also: I agree that the majority of kids in daycare aren’t lost or raped or punctured with thumbtacks. Certainly most kids in daycare don’t share their toy boxes with guns and narcotics. This is usually the second comeback I get.
Admittedly, I’m not overly concerned with the above instances of physical abuse in childcare facilities. But it’s these tangibles examples I repeat because they so neatly counter and complement the apocalyptic concerns about silly things like SPF and acid rain. A child shouldn’t be raised in a daycare not so much because there’s a risk of physical harm, but because it’s just not right. While kids can certainly benefit from sunblock and toxin-free paint, they thrive when they’re raised by their parents. Whole grains make for a healthy heart; Mommy makes for a full heart.
No amount of organic blueberries or sunscreen or Baby Einstein-type reinforcements will ever reach the good we can do by simply raising our own children.
From Mandewilkes.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment