I recently listened to a radio program, during which a mother proudly described how she had enrolled her daughter in a counselling program, because her daughter wasn’t adjusting well to being left in daycare.

capitalism and humans don't mix well, and it's easy to imagine better ways of running human society.

but one measure of 'better' is 'victorious' and capitalism seems to be ascendant everywhere, so prepare yourselves to slide into some mixture of 'brave new world', if we're lucky, and '1984', if we're not.

children will just have to adapt to being economic units, like the rest of us. fortunately, this is just a transition period. genetic engineering and psychological conditioning will soon make the integration process smooth and irresistable.

keep your eyes down, answer in an obsequious manner when spoken to, and offer a fervent "yes, sir/madam!" to all instructions. survival is possible, and may even seem worthwhile

Seems to me the political message does not gel. Both parties are claiming to be family friendly but they are spending billions on child care when parents actually should be doing that.

Taxpayer funding of child care does one thing. It increases the cost of child care. Plain and simple. Have a look at the rates of government funding and the relevant rises in child care costs. We might as well just give the money directly to the child care companies as they just eat it up.

As to the quality of child care, how many of you have actually watched what goes on inside these places during the work day? Do you seriously think your child is getting anything like the care you can give as a parent?

Society should be concerned when governments are paying parents to leave their children. They should be paying them to stay at home and look after them if anything.

It really reflects the pressure workers have been under for decades.

My kids were born in the 70's. I was on a low wage but my ex wife stayed at home to look after them. When they went to school she worked part time. How much subsidy was there from taxpayer's? NIL. As it should be. My kids, my costs. Why should anyone else have supported me?

If this money was used for aged care, hospitals, education and all the more essential services we would have a far better society.

How many of you know mothers who don't work that put their kids in taxpayer funded child care? I know 6 such mothers. And I, for one, am sick of paying for their baby sitters. Aren't you?

Once upon a time, and not so long ago, most child care arrangements were done via various forms of cooperative community based efforts.
They were essentially friendly and very child oriented in there operations---the parents had a real say in what happened.

Then along came John and Jeff inspired by the IPA and the CIS (JB's home base) and most if not all the community based centres were forced to close under the new rules of the market. All the money was creamed off into private hands, notably one savvy ABC entrepreneur, and the bottom line became the operating rule.

Welcome to the brave new brutopian world where the invisible hand of the "market" rules.

I agree. I'm a single person, and I'm sick of rich women
telling me that I need to fund their childcare experiments.
Plus, socialistic policies have a sad history. Lets fact it,
some of these broads love throwing their babies in childcare,
and asking the taxpayer to foot the bill. I'm no fool.

Hey RobbyH, I was born in the 70s like your kids, and I remember that my mum certainly did get some regular family payments from what subsequently became the Family Assistance Office. Looks like you missed out!

This sort of article regularly pops up from the CIS. I've yet to hear them use the phrase "the public good".