Ontario Providers - What would you Think About Mandated Age Restrictions?

[Toregone]

At what point does the responsibility fall on the parent? A parent interviewing a dayhome should ask appropriate questions regarding how many other children in care and what are the ages of those children. The onus should be on the parent to determine if a situation is safe. I do not agree with this provider operating with this many children in this age group but... you have to think of the parents that have placed thier children into this womans care. What proirities are the parents placing ahead of saftey, because it is obvisious that saftey can not be the primary concern.

[Inspired by Reggio]

At what point does the responsibility fall on the parent? A parent interviewing a dayhome should ask appropriate questions regarding how many other children in care and what are the ages of those children. The onus should be on the parent to determine if a situation is safe. I do not agree with this provider operating with this many children in this age group but... you have to think of the parents that have placed their children into this woman's care. What priorities are the parents placing ahead of safety, because it is obvious that safety can not be the primary concern.

I agree that we need to do a much better job of educating new parents of what to look for in a quality early learning experience for their children .... however sadly many parents do not realize this is not 'normal' because in their community ALL the providers operate this way and what not . Or depending on your culture / upbringing it was common practice once upon a time for a family to have 6,8,9 or a dozen children in the home ~ and they come from the mindset of 'we survived that many children so will mine' .... which is true once upon a time 'siblings raised siblings' because parents were busy working long hours on farms and what not

It goes back to that value of is it just enough to strive for our children to 'survive' or should we be striving for them to THRIVE because more and more research shows that while children can 'survive' with very little support from an adult it often comes laden with childhoods filled with bullying/abuse/neglect/emotional baggage verses children who 'thrive' in smaller ratios with the 'guidance' of a caring responsive adult there to fall back on as needed so they not only survive childhood with their social emotional self in tact but they thrive as early learners and so forth.