[URL]http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=childcare21m&date=20020221[/URL]
Please take a look at this article. It's not totally lop-sided, but my foil hat [advanced model] pointed me to these juicy "it takes a village" quotes.
See what you think. It's actually more than Grandma they're worried about, also leaving them with other relatives, friends, neighbors, who are (gasp) [size=6][b][red]UNREGULATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/size=6][/b][/red]
A majority of those informal care providers - nearly 300,000 people who are [red]unregulated by the state [/red] - have no specific training in child-care, child-development or parenting skills and tend to be less affluent and educated than the state's general population, the study found.
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That does it. Grandma will have to get fingerprinted. The neighbors, too, because little Conifer always asks if he can go over there when he gets home from school.
Oh, Granny has to get trained? Where? How? Oh, wait, those wonderful Child Development people at the University of Washington have a program! And there gonna be a state program to pay for it, if she's smart enough. After all, she's "less affluent and educated".
Some experts say licensed day-care centers generally provide higher-quality care than do informal care providers. A Johns Hopkins University study of day-care arrangements for low-income preschoolers in three cities rated 88 percent of the unregulated home-care settings as inadequate or minimal. The homes lacked books and [red]appropriate toys[/red], and caregivers sometimes used inappropriate discipline.
In contrast, nearly 80 percent of the [b]licensed centers were rated as good.
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Therefore we need to make sure everybody gets a license. Hey, does this sound like a commercial for the "licensed, regulated" industry?
[blue]"Danny!! Quick! Hide GI Joe!!! Last time the state inspectors were here they confiscated our squirt guns!!
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Uh, I have never seen a house that didn't have [b]some[/b] books. Now maybe what they mean is "appropriate" books. Oh, we'll have to have another study to figure out what books are appropriate. Let's see, no books about firearms, uh, no books about less government.
The state has an interest because it subsidizes licensed and unlicensed child care for thousands of low-income working parents. About one-third use their state vouchers to pay extended family members, friends or neighbors for child care.
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Well, we could argue whether [b]that[/b] program should even exist, but it seems pretty clear that when you take money from the government, they will try to control you.
Children from birth through age 5 average five to seven hours a week in the care of extended family, friends or neighbors; one in three averages more than 10 hours. Many experts consider 10 hours a week sufficient for the quality of care to affect a child's development.
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Are we supposed to conclude that these kids are neglected? Maybe they only NEED to be at someone else's house for less than 10 hours.