Sunday, May 15, 2011

Childcare woes

Read with interest and concern the struggles of working mothers in looking for the requisite childcare while they are working. One common complaint is that childcare centres just don't stay open long enough for parents to rush there from work to pick their children up. This is despite the mind-bogglingly long hours they are already operating - from 7am to 7pm. 'Open for even longer hours,' mothers are pleading.

Doesn't it mean that childcare teachers have to report for work before everyone else, and are allowed to leave work only after every parent has picked up his/her children? Then, who is going to be providing childcare services for childcare teachers? I'm not trying to be funny here, just pondering the sad paradox that while they are taking care of others' kids, they have to leave their own elsewhere.

There is a rather obvious solution, only that it is impossible in our competitive society. Parents are just going to have to leave their office earlier - if they start work at 8am, leaving at 6pm is in no way dereliction of duty. When has it become acceptable to make people work 14-hour days? What is the point of our supremely advanced technology if we can't do more in less time?

2 comments:

Tan YH said...

it's a paradox indeed. one solution could be to increase productivity, and REDUCE work hours. If everyone must leave office by 5pm, childcare opening till 7pm is going to be more than enough? (:

Anonymous said...

Isn't it ironic too, that school teachers take pains to plan and execute the first-day-of-school programme for the school's new students, but will never be able to be there for their children's first day of school?

The same goes for school performances. They will never be able to enjoy any performance their children put up during school hours.