Poirot
Daycare centers have little to do with consumerism, but are now a political system, and the spending of taxpayer funding on daycare centers has doubled in 5 years.

“The Office of Work and Family is working with relevant departments to ensure the Government's policies support families to effectively balance their work and family responsibilities. In particular, it is supporting the Government's new directions for child care and early childhood education and the COAG early childhood agenda, including for Indigenous Australians.”

http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/women/progserv/economic/Pages/office_work_family.aspx

I cannot see how putting young infants or babies into daycare/childcare helps balance “work and family responsibilities”.

It is feminist hype only.

The $3.7 billion per year currently being spent on daycare/childcare would be better spent helping to address the very serious issue of children’s health.

vanna,

The whole paradigm of Western society is based around consumerism - and daycare centres are not only a huge industry in themselves (as are schools), they also free up a mother's time so she can plunge herself into work outside the house.

How can you arrive at the conclusion that daycare has little to do with consumerism - it's an accomplice to the system and a mechanism to enhance participation within it.

Btw, do you ever read my posts? I'm not in favour of daycare for infants.

Poriot,
Read carefully between the lines of the following.

“In particular, it is supporting the Government's new directions for child care and early childhood education and the COAG early childhood agenda, including for Indigenous Australians.”

“The Office for Women works with the Office of Work and Family to ensure the particular needs of working women are appropriately considered and incorporated into the Government's broader work and family agenda.”

http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/women/progserv/economic/Pages/office_work_family.aspx

It becomes very important to define what “family agenda” actually means.

Australia has one of the highest rates of divorce in the world, and is No9 in the world for divorces per 100 marriages.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_div_per_100_mar-people-divorces-per-100-marriages

After divorce, the father is mostly removed from the children’s lives.

With daycare, the mother is mostly removed from the children’s lives also.

Eventually the children are raised by the state.

This is not consumerism that is gradually taking over our society.

It is Marxist/feminist.