Hi everyone,

I am a student conducting a research project on childcare and i would greatly appreciate it if everyone could go on the following link and complete the questionnaire.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDUxWTRhbHRPMFBySG1qelgzMHBjcGc6MQ#gid=0

It is online and very simple to use. Once finished just click submit :)
Thankyo

Seems to be a bit of that going around.

Try and make it stand out from the crowd by not searching for the preferred ideological conclusion that childcare support is inadequate or inaccessible or just costs too much.

Suggested questions.

1. Do you think people on above average income should have their childcare subsidized by the taxes of the lowest paid workers, all the while having their children taken care of by some of those very same workers.

2. Would you sacrifice takeaway meals and a few designer clothes, perhaps an overseas holiday once a year in order to bring your children up yourself rather than use childcare services.

3. Do you think you would be just as fulfilled nurturing your children and watching them develop, and spending those precious pre-school years with them as you would by maintaining a career and consumerist lifestyle.

4. Do you recognize that there are positives and negatives to be gained by choosing different provider or nurturing responsibilities in a family unit, and that it is easily negotiated between couples which responsibilities and roles each couple is happy with, baring in mind each hour spent at work is an hour less with the children, and each hour spent with the children is an hour sacrificed in career advancement and longer term financial independence and security.

5. Do you think companies should be forced to fit in with the preferred hours of employees, and promote employees based on gender political grounds rather than on performance and value and commitment to the company goals often requiring long hours.

Houellie,

Your suggested questions warmed the cockles of my heart : )

Must be something in the air...yesterday I watched a toy store owner interviewed about his suggestions as to what to give the kiddies for Christmas.

His main answer was - "Time"

I can remember a while back some Labor minister spruiking on TV about the wonderful new regulations they were introducing in child care. These included higher qualifications & higher worker to child ratios. I observed at the time, that this would ensure the workers would continue poorly paid, & make child care overly expensive for many.

My lady attacked me on this. The little dears needed this change it appeared. We never used it. We preferred, home based community child care, when we had to use it.

Now a councilor, dealing with the long term unemployed, & the struggling under employed, she can see what I saw then, many women are almost as well off staying at home. Almost, but not quite

As an aside she also laments the lack of support, even in finding employment, for those with one partner working, but not earning enough to live reasonably.

In this area we know many who gain only a little from a second income, after the costs, including childcare are deducted, but it is the difference between paying the mortgage or loosing everything.

Many are only hanging on by their fingertips, until the day the child going to school will make the financial strain easier. There are no holidays, overseas or otherwise to forgo, & much of the clothing has a Salvation Army label, rather than a designer one.

My answer to a few of your questions Houllie.

1/ No childcare should be means tested, but also, those at home, receiving benefits should not have subsidised child care either. If we pay them to mind their own kids, that is what they should be doing.

2/ Answered above.

3/ No, but many would prefer it if they could afford it.

4/ Sounds good, but not always financially possible. I was house husband for our eldest, as it could be done with what I was doing. With the second I was clearing, & working up hundreds of acres, which was too dangerous to have a little one around.

5/ Definitely not. This is why public servants are so inefficient, & government operations such a drain on the community as a whole. The public service would work more efficiently with 50% less people. Business, particularly small business is usually working on a bare minimum of staff, often less than desirable.

If what I am doing requires information I often need an answer now, even if it is 3.00PM. I can not wait until tomorrow, if my book keeper has left to pick up little Johny. I once had a supplier who went to a 9 day fortnight. They had to change back, or go broke. Many customers could not afford to do business with a company who could only give a definitive answer on Tuesday Wednesday or Thursday.

Sorry no, the best worker should get the job/money, not the one most in need. Supplying welfare is government work.

However, work can be worker friendly, & efficient. If my staff needed a couple of hours to see a doctor/dentist, or little Johnny's teacher, they took an hour or 3 as required. Provided they had their work up to date, there was no need for paperwork, or sick leave to be taken.

Staff took responsibility for their work, & everyone was happy. I only needed to know when they would be out, & when they'd return.

Keep the state away from our kids.
The last thing we need is children in the care of the state from birth to the age of 21, all schools should be privatised as well and the national curriculum scrapped,then parents would have a real choice in their child's education. If I had sons I don't know what I'd do, sending girls to state school is damaging enough to their development even though the schools are set up to cater for the education of females.