You can't warehouse kids
Burnaby Now
20 Oct 2007
Voices -- By: Kathy Tones

Dear Editor:

Re: Change child-care rules, Letters to the editor, Burnaby NOW, Oct. 6.

Arlene Morris states: just raise the child to staff ratio through licensing regulations, and this will solve all the problems.

Well, she should realize that children are not a commodity to warehouse.

They deserve the best start possible, and five or more children per caregiver is not an option for quality licensed childcare.

Ms. Morris should get out and visit a licensed infant/toddler centre and see for herself that these dynamic individuals are not sleeping half the day away but are awake and learning.

Early childhood educators are not sitting watching them play but are engaging them in physical, intellectual, social and emotional activities that promote their growth and development.

We are not glorified babysitters but teachers. Quality licensed child care is essential to working families in British Columbia and Canada.

These parents deserve to go to work knowing their child is safe and getting the best possible care.

Support for non-profit societies such as the SFU Childcare Society is helping to keep the economy going by having working parents in the workforce. Let's remember everyone that contributes to it.

Early childhood educators have supported working families by providing care for children through low wages, no pensions and no dental for their own children.

We as workers just want a livable wage. We have yet to get back up to the wage we were making March 31, 2001 before the government stripped away the society's funding. Why not support something as good as SFU Childcare Society? It works, and families are happy with the quality of care given.

Warehousing infants and toddlers is not an option. I would love to see Ms. Morris with five or more toddlers for a week or even a day and see how she manages.

But I deserve a decent wage too.