The Press
June 26 1974.
Need for more information
The views expressed so far about
day-care centres seem to have been polarised into black and white, says Dr
Karen Zelas, a child psychiatrist.
“This has been contributed to, I think, by reporting in ‘The Press’.” she said
in a statement yesterday. She was
replying to a comment made by Mrs Doris Kerrisk for
the National Organisation of Women on June 21.
Mrs Kerrisk was then commenting on an
interview with Dr Zelas, published on June 10, on day-care centres.
“The situations in which I think that day-care centres can make a useful
contribution to the community were not all included in the report of the
interview with me,” Dr Zelas said. “It
is necessary that people should be well informed about the advantages and the
disadvantages in order that appropriate decisions can be made both at a
community and an individual level.”
“One of the risks of a failure in this is that it could become fashionable for
mothers to leave their infants and young children in day-care centres while
they go to work, perhaps even under the illusion that this is a better way of
bringing up children.”
Different
“It must be noted, too, that the requirements of the infant are very different
from those of the pre-school child, a distinction which is often overlooked. The attributes of day-care centres emphasised
by N.O.W. are inappropriate when one considers the needs of a baby or a
toddler, which comprise predominantly an intimate, secure, loving relationship
with one mothering person who is available when needed and who learns to
understand, respond appropriately to and to stimulate the communication of the
infant, giving him a secure base from which to explore his world. With these things in mind, I fail to see how
any day-care centre for children under two years can be “ideal” as stated by
the spokeswoman for N.O.W.”
“Unfortunately, there is a small proportion of women who are unable to provide
good enough mothering care their infants require, either because of their own
complex feelings about their children and themselves or because, for economic
reasons, it is essential for them to work to support their families,” said Dr
Zelas.
Helpful
“In these situations a good day-care centre can be helpful. There are times when such a provision can
give a relatively stable and predictable experience, as well as a degree of
supervision, for a small child in an otherwise
disorganised and barren environment.
At other times it may enable a family unit to remain intact.”
“What a day-care centre can provide here is still not in itself ‘ideal’ but it
may be better than the alternatives.”
“It is still possible very often to find women who are sufficiently contented
and secure in their role as a mother to be able to care for a few other
children of differing ages in their own homes.”
“I, too, think that they do a very good job.
But we must distinguish the quality of care that such women are able to
give from that provided in the much more impersonal setting of a day-care centre. Adoptive and long-term foster mothers are, to
all intents and purposes, the child’s ‘mother’ and an intimate attachment
develops between them.”
“And I find it a great pity that women should be encouraged to think that they
can only be a ‘person’ if they are employed outside their homes. It is the popularisation of this attitude
which contribute to the frustration and
dissatisfaction of some women, fortunately still a minority.
“In my opinion, there is a place for day-care centres in the
community but their limitations and potentially detrimental effects must be
recognised and as many steps as possible taken to minimise these.”
“Mothers should be welcome in centres and one of the aims should be to
try to foster the relationship between mother and child where this deficient,
to help the two come together, not to further alienate the mother by leading
her to believe that the day-care mother can succeed with her child where she
herself cannot.”
“Every opportunity should be made by employers to assist women to return to
their careers, usually on a part-time basis, one the valuable job of guiding
their children through their early years has been completed.” said Dr Zelas.