Kids First Canada: Current Issues and Action


Learn what's happening in research, politics and propaganda: Daycare Fact & Fiction, Ideology & Agendas This in-depth report was compiled by H. Ward, President of Kids First Parent Association of Canada. The latest June 2006 update is available as a pdf document. Also available are a condensed version with references and links, and a condensed version with no references. Interview with Canadian Dr. Elliot Barker, child psychiatrist and founder of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children. He sees lack of empathetic parenting and consumerism as the roots of criminality. The Root Causes of Addiction—love, babies and neuroscience: Listen to a CBC radio interview with doctor, author and columnist, Dr. Gabor Mate, currently working with adults with drug addictions on Vancouver's downtown eastside. He links daycare use and lack of parental nurturing with addiction. He says "parents should be given every support to stay at home with their kids as long as possible." Go to April 11,2008. Click on the "PORTLAND HOTEL CONTINUED" audio link (the other link is to interviews with his patient/addicts and nurse). The especially relevant bits start at 9:40 minutes and 11 minutes. The OECD and Canada's Daycare Lobby: Ties Denied The OECD: Globalizing Daycare Lobby Ideology Daycare Turf Wars: For-Profit Big Box vs. Non-Profit Big Box vs. State-Run Big Box exposing the spin and re-framing the debate in favour of funding parents not boxes Mustard Calls Quebec Study "chicken shit", McCain Accuses Authors of Denying Breastfeeding Benefits Mustard’s Contempt for Parents: “17% of parents are godawful” and only one third of us are “competent” says World Bank backed daycare lobbyist, Dr. Fraser Mustard in a Toronto Star article Senate Committee Hears from Daycare Lobby but not Parents Transcripts of Senate Committee Hearings on Child Care Billionaire McCain Displays Contempt for Low-Wage Nannies OECD Underestimated Early Education Funding—Only Counted Spending on Kindergarten Letter in Hill Times Embassy Magazine, March 12th, 2008 in response to original article published Feb 20, 2008: "Canada Lagging in Early Education Funding" Survey by Ipsos Reid for Federal government finds Canadians want choice and support for parents Article: "Who should be caring for very young children?" in The Medical Journal of Australia NAFTA Means US "Big Box" Daycare Chains Can Get Canadian Taxpayers' Dollars: A legal opinion for Canadian Union of Public Employees CUPE) says because of NAFTA daycare must be STATE-RUN not just state-funded to keep out US chains. Another legal opinion refutes CUPE lawyers. Children in daycare centres have higher levels of stress measured by testing cortisol levels—BBC News article. Corporate Welfare: Labour Force expansion policies: The OECD and the World Bank seek a larger, globalized, more "flexible" Labour Force. Importing low-wage labour means higher profits through lower wages. This Guardian article describes the situation in Europe. "Putting more women to work"--the name of an OECD colloquium--through de-funding families and funding daycare has the same effect. Both the OECD and the World Bank vigourously promote funding daycare over parental care. BC Considering Full-Day Schooling for 3- to 5-year-olds: All-Day Schooling for Ages 3 to 5? Feb 13, 2008: Times - Colonist Excerts. Victoria, B.C UBC's Human Early - HELP - Pushes for Universal All day Preschool, Vancouver Sun Sept 2007: HELP has 3 members the BC Provincial Child Care (daycare) Council and considerable policy influence. WARNING: misrepresentation of evidence, costs/benefits based on inapplicable Perry Preschool findings, confusing use of terms "high quality," "child care," and "preschool" HELP announces 'Universal "Child Care" Coming' yet the Education Minister says full-day K for age 3 to 5 is just an idea they are planning to explore. So is it a done deal with no parent consultation? Full-Day Schooling for 3-5 is Daycare Through the Back Door—article in Hamilton Spectator by Kate Tennier See the TVO debate on daycare and full-day kindergarten for 4 and 5 year olds. Charles Pascal, the Ontario advisor on full-day schooling for tots, and daycare economist Gordon Cleveland win our BEER AND POPCORN AWARD for contemptuous attitudes towards parents and our DAYCARE DISINFORMATION AWARD for misleading information. Click on the Dec 5 episode. Nov. 30 2007—Kids First President Helen Ward and activist Kate Tennier in Ottawa Citizen on push for full-day Kindergarten: More School isn't Always Better Ontario teacher speaks out against all-day kindergarten Brown advisor calls for tax breaks for stay-at-home mums after warning over nurseries: UK PM's policy advisor, Jay Belsky, cites negative effects of centre-based care and asks for funding for parental child care "on humanitarian grounds." Care Control Revolution: UK moves away from state control of care decisions to provide direct cash benefits to elderly and disabled for care costs—why not parents? The Health Minister calls this a “radical transfer of power from the state to the public” and speaks about the elderly getting “self-determination and maximum control over their own lives.” BBC News Elderly to get personal care cash Telegraph Elderly set free, but children shackled Daycare Bill C-303 Update Nov 2007: Liberal MP's Letter Reveals Bill C-303 is about Political Games, not Keeping "Big Box" Daycare Chains Out Welsh parent says switch to parental care after 4 years of daycare eliminated son's problematic behaviour revealing his true character. Britain's Daily Mail finds Swedish woman are asking for an end to daycare discrimination: women are far from equal after 30 years of policy discriminating against parental child care. Parents in Britain—and Canada—take note! Flexi-hours and longer maternity leave: A trimph for feminism? Anything but! "Free" daycare through the back door: The push for full-time school for ages 3-5. In Ontario, the Liberals and NDP make full-day school for age 4-5 an election promise and disregard kindergarden child:staff ratios of 20:1—Full-day kindergarten no treat for kids (a Hamilton Spectator article by Kate Tennier) Open letter demands full-day schooling for age 3-5 and daycare: the letter claiming disproven Utopian social and economic benefits for preschool and daycare is sponsored by maritime heiress Margaret McCain and signed by daycare lobby voices. WORKING MOTHERS Most mothers are not at full-time paid jobs. Only about 6%—not 70% as we are told—of mothers of children under 3 are at full time jobs. These graphs present a breakdown of mothers' labour force participation rate statistics from the OECD. Labour force statistics have been misused to argue for high demand for daycare centres and preferential funding for daycare over parental care. We recognize that every mother is a working mother. Statistics Canada: More mums are breastfeeding longer after Employment Insurance leave increased from 6 months to 1 year Article: "Parents of babies to be given 'learning diaries' so experts can monitor children"—lots of cash for studying parents but not for parents Kids First Submission Opposing Discriminatory Bill C303 (in English and in French) Take action against Bill C-303 on early learning and child care National Institute for Child Health and Human Development Child Care Outcomes Study—Report of Findings to Grade 5 and 6: The study defined "child care" as non-maternal care over 10 hours per week. The main findings were that children who were in daycare centres had higher levels of behavioural/social problems such as aggression and cruelty, which continue without reduction; high quality child care is associated with better vocabulary scores than low quality child care; high quality child care is found most often in dad and grandparent care (the study previously estimated only 9% of child care settings were high quality). Another tax-funded daycare lobby cash cow feeding at the "child care" trough Daycare staff:child ratios & "quality": bad and getting worse (July 21, 2005) "Appropriate" Staff:Child Ratios in "Quality" Daycare: A Politically Sensitive Topic (July 18 2005) Motherlove, crime and addiction: lessons learned from lab rats by Chella Turnbull A Stanford and Berkeley study of over 14,000 children finds pre-school/daycare harms social development. "The UC Berkeley-Stanford study found that all children who attended preschool at least 15 hours a week displayed more negative social behaviors such as trouble cooperating or acting up, when compared with their peers. The discrepancies were most pronounced among children from higher-income families." Note: No research has demonstrated that "moderate" advantage in cognitive tests for children in "high quality" preschool/daycare endure in the long term. Note: The majority of daycares in the US and Canada have been found to be of low quality. Read more about the studies: New report examines effects nationwide of preschool on kids' development and Loeb's study on preschool finds bright side, dark side A fairer way to fund child care: Montreal Gazette. Correction to info in article: Quebec pays up to $60/day/child ($15,700/yr) to daycare centres to subsidize operation costs. Regulation, capital, training, etc are additional costs. Only 21% of Quebec children aged 1-5 are in daycare centres. What Stats Can is not telling us: charts of daycare use for ages 6 mos-5 yrs and ages 6-11 Comments on Child Care Spaces Report Federal Budget 2007: Good News—Bad News Kids First in the news Sweden to Fund Parental Child Care--Reverses Decades of Discrimination Swedes opposing Swedish daycare and family policy: On daycarism in Sweden by Jan-Ola Gustafsson Katarina Runske 1989 speech Katarina Runske 1994 speech. Read excerts from Patricia Morgan's book, Family Policy, Family Changes—Sweden, Italy and Britain Compared: Sweden: Socialist Engineering in Family Policy Overview and Conclusions Read a short resume of Patricia Morgan's new book that talks about research on family policy in Europe, which finds that... Sweden has most sex-segregated work force in Western world Cheap daycare does not produce higher birthrates Huge numbers of "working" Swedish mothers are off work Swedish intolerance in child care Swedish Government Report Critiques Appalling Daycare Conditions (July 15 2005) Swedish report to the United Nations Swedish legal case involving a family wishing to care for their own child Rising Violence Against Swedish Women Despite Gender Equity Promotion New Vanier Institute Report: The Rise in the Number of Children and Adolescents Who Exhibit Problematic Behaviors: Multiple Causes Kids First summary Press Release Globe and Mail article and readers' comments Recent related reports: UNICEF report finding Canadian children rating low in peer & family relationships, behaviour & risks, and subjective well-being (see chart, p. 4) Statistics Canada report finding lower amounts of time spent with family Head Start, Sure Start, Success by 6... Questioning the benefits of pre-school: We need to ask if children would be better off if the huge sums of public money going into these programs, related bureaucracies and research went directly to their parents. Preschool for all? - No Thanks: article from Australia £20 million study finds £3 billion program ineffective: British "Sure Start" preschool Daycare Supply and Demand Is there a labour shortage and should mothers have to fill it? Kids First Input for Child Care Spaces Initiative Consultations Parents vs State Intervention in Child-Rearing: Clarifying our Roles Liberal policies: From pensions for "stay at home mums" to beer and popcorn: How the Liberal party reversed its policy on children and families Read the pro-parent Liberal Government Report on Tax Equity for Families with Dependent Children A Critical Review of Daycare for Under 3s Mum professor seeking input from "at-home" parents for book Daycare Dis-information Buster: What it really means when they say "The reality is that 70% of mothers are working" Hutchinson v. BC: BC Human Rights Tribunal rejects Ministry of Health discrimination against hiring family as care providers. This case has implications for funding of other forms of care including child care. Review of Ann Crittenden's book, If You've Raised Kids You Can Manage Anything The daycare lobby is using the "UN Convention on the Rights of the Child" to argue for more daycare. They avoid mentioning the primacy given the family and the parent-child relationship throughout the document. "Canadian early learning and child care and the Convention on the Rights of the Child" by Martha Friendly, Coordinator of the fully tax-funded Child Care Resource and Research Unit at the University of Toronto UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Kids First Responds to Some Concerns Governor Teaches a Preschool Lesson: An article at NRO by Carrie Lukas about the states rejecting universal preschool as costly, ineffective and interfering in the family sphere New survey finds over 80% of Canadians prefer parental care What is Feminism? Pop-Culture Shocker: TV Cartoon Tackles Mums' Work Choices Dangerous superbug sweeping across nation, officials say: An article at globeandmail.com by Helen Branswell New Daycare Poll: Ripped Off, Dumbed Down & Shut Up Mothers' Day Proclamation 1870: No Brekky in Bed Response to Dr. Hillel Goelman's article "Time to get past child care myths" Do children become criminals without government-licenced daycare and preschool? Carolyn Bennett, Toronto MP and candidate for Liberal leadership, said it's good the government is building more prisons because we'll need them since they are canceling the daycare deals. For more information see ProudToBeCanadian and click "Liberals endorse Conservative Jail-Building Plan." Mike Duffy gives Ms Bennett a chance to explain herself. She says it's "early learning" that is needed. See http://www.ctv.ca/canada Go to "Mike Duffy Live" and click the Bennett link. Child-care battle rages: a Toronto Star article More beer and popcorn: a Winnipeg Sun article Daycare or Prison: Does $1 Spent on Daycare Save $7? Helen Ward of Kids First responds to Dr Bennett's comment. Perry Preschool Propaganda Project Reality Check: Daycare: The More You Spend, The More You Save!!!??? Major study from University of London, England: What is known about the long-term economic impact of centre-based early childhood interventions? "Politicians and policy-makers should stop basing the case for expanding early years provision on old, inaccurate and decontextualized data about long-term economic benefits, a research study has concluded." Read more. Kids First and the New Universal Childcare Allowance Kids First a Focus at PM's Child Care Policy Visit to BC: Read the Kids First report and Prime Minister Stephen Harper's news release. Read the Vancouver Sun, CTV and CBC reports. Neither Conservative nor Liberal Daycare Plan Addresses Equality: Published in The Hill Times, Letters, April 24, 2006 Daycare Dis-information Buster—Waitlists: Child-care lobby’s numbers are a joke: A Winnipeg Sun article by Tom Brodbeck Dutch and US 'Feminazis' Condemn University Grad Mothers who Reduce their GDP-Sector Time: Dutch Feminazis Want to Punish Educated Mothers: An article from The Brussels Journal by Alexandra Colen 'Mommy Wars': To Work or to Stay at Home: ABC News interviews of US "feminazi" Linda Hirshman and the no-good "stay at home" mums Feminist Slams Stay-at-Home Moms: An article by Don Feder Feminism revisited: A Boston Globe article by Cathy Young Behind the baby gap lies a culture of contempt for parenthood: An article by Madeline Bunting published in The Guardian that points out how women's unpaid care-work is worth more than entire GDP Best-selling author on parenting, therapist Steve Biddulph: "My warning to parents is simple: one in five children put into nursery early will develop mental health problems" Minding the Baby Rebecca Abrams' review in The Guardian of Sue Gerhardt's book Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby's Brain Every Mother is a Working Mother in Venezuela: Unpaid Home-Workers of Venezuela Fight Bureaucrats to Assure President Hugo Chavez's Revolutionary Promise of Remuneration Media Release April 24, 2006: Parent Group Says Government Must Cut Funding to Daycare Lobby Now Press Release March 1, 2006: Caregivers from around the world meet in New York seeking recognition Kids First representatives are in attendance. Fund the child, not the system: An article by Kate Tennier published in the Globe and Mail on Monday, February 13, 2006. FUND THE CHILD vs FUND THE SPACES: Kids First Responds to Caledon Institute Report that $1,200 could be $388 for Low Income Families Fund the child, not the system: by Kate Tennier and published in the Globe and Mail on Monday, February 13, 2006. Daycare Dis-information Buster: Daycare is Not Medicare—Comparing Apples and Oranges Daycare Dis-information Buster: Under 10 % of Children in Daycare Daycare Dis-information Buster: Creating False Impressions with "Child Care" Words and Numbers Reality Check on Quebec Daycare: Research Finds Low Quality, High Costs, Negative Outcomes, Worse Family Finances The Fund the Child Coalition Canada-Wide Event for International Children's Day was held on Nov 19-21. Read about our formal Complaint to the United Nations. Speaking Notes for the Fund the Child Press Conference Kid First Presentation to Federal Finance Committee 2005—Transcript Corporate Right World Bankers Lobbying for Daycare—Speech Letter to the Editor Re: Dis-information in Article by Top Daycare Lobbyist, Martha Friendly Daycare, Low Income and the Left Violent Youth and Child Care Reality Check: Maybe We Ought to Ask...What Does Daycare Cost? Media Release December 12, 2005: "Daycare and 'Beer-Gate': Accountability, Hate and Lies" Sept 29 Media Release: Daycare Mis-Information Exposed We Need a Moratorium on Paul Martin's National Childcare Program Reality Check: Misleading BC Daycare Info Corrected Read this August 2005 report in pdf format. July 2005 Update Does Daycare Lower 'Child Poverty' and Get Mums into Jobs? Quebec Experiment Results: No Daycare does not lower "child poverty" or increase mothers' labour force participation (August 26, 2005) International Women's Day Update & Real Equality Financial Post March 7, 2005: "Kids First response to CAW union on daycare funding" Media release March 2, 2005: "Kids First Response to Federal Budget & Child Care Funding" Media release February 9, 2005: "Message to Fed-Prov Territorial Meeting: Legal Challenge Sought to Daycare Discrimination" CBC commentary—Beverley Smith—Dec 28, 2004 The Politicized Science of Day Care: A Personal and Professional Odyssey: A paper (in pdf format) by Dr Jay Belsky, a leading researcher with the US NICHD who is now at the Birkbeck University of London. Royal Bank of Canada Vice President Charlie Coffey speaks of the "business imperative" in "Early Child Development," which means daycare. Speech text Video of speech The Failure of European Family Policy Calgary Sun Dec 13, 2005: Grits are scary on child care Research on Daycare and Low Birthrates July 30, 2005: Premier advances N.B. position on federal gas tax return, child-care funding More on Dumping Kids in Day Care: A blog by Dr. Rod Moser, PA, PhD Recent findings on negative outcomes for children and parenting in the Quebec system "Universal Childcare, Maternal Labor Supply and Family Well-Being" by Michael Baker (University of Toronto), Jonathan Gruber (MIT) and Kevin Milligan (University of British Columbia). From the study: "We uncover striking evidence that children are worse off in a variety of behavioral and health dimensions, ranging from aggression to motor-social skills to illness. Our analysis also suggests that the new childcare program led to more hostile, less consistent parenting, worse parental health, and lower-quality parental relationships." Note that child:staff ratios have been raised since the data used was collected and are now 8 children age 1 per staff. This would worsen outcomes.	Search this Site Current Issues and Action Policy by Kids First Related Links Fund the Child Movement Book List: Recommended Reading Audio/Video Files How You Can Help Join/Donate/Subscribe Contact Us Home
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