Irresponsible Parents’ Use Of Child Centres Criticised

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28980, 22 August 1959, Page 15

Irresponsible Parents’ Use Of Child Centres Criticised

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, August 21. Inspection of known day nurseries indicated that deliberate exploitation of children for profit was not a major problem, but at some centres better facilities and care were required, said the annual report on child welfare tabled in Parliament today. “The major difficulty seems rather to be the irresponsibility shown by a comparatively small number of parents who appear oblivious to the effects on the mental health and future development of their children of attendance, day after day, at under-staffed centres, providing reasonable material care, but little or no stimulating or constructive activity, and virtually no emotional warmth,” the report says. “Some parents, and particularly unmarried .or deserted mothers, have little freedom of choice, but, even so, it is hard to understand the action ot parents who, for instance, continue to send,their children to a centre where ’the proprietor refuses to allow them to look inside the premises. “In some cases, parents bring or send the children to a nursery early in the morning, and appear most reluctant to call for them

again in the evening, leaving it very late to do this, and sometimes only after prompting by the proprietor. “There can be no doubt, therefore, that although official supervision of the child care centres is necessary, a more responsible and vigilant attitude on the part of many parents is equally necessary,” said the report.