An Infant's Needs
Media Bias On Day Care
Day Care Horror Stories
Studies of Day Care
Attachment
Email with Day Care Supporters
A Mother's Day Bouquet of Skunkweed
Love, The Washington Post
The Washington Post ran an amazing bait and switch article for Mother's Day, 1998. The headline on page A2 proclaimed that stay-home mothers get more respect than working moms. Yes indeedy, they printed survey results that showed that - but mostly among older people. Then, the article went on to insult the concept of staying home with your children, and to insult the women who do it.
The gist was - it's boring to stay home. Moms aren't interesting at parties. Why, a mom in the article left her children in the care of others to go work as a truck dispatcher so she'd feel better at parties. Because we are all dying to talk about truck dispatching! Mom after mom in the article is a former stay-home mom who gave up her profession of caring for her children because it was too boring. The article ends with the shocking observation by an unmarried 30-something man that stay-home moms just sit and eat and "bulk up." Why would the female writer of this article begin with a study showing women who actually raise their own children are more respected than working moms and end with the report that moms tending their own children are fat, boring and unpopular? It's so breathtakingly hateful that one can only imagine it arises from extreme guilt or envy or a corporate attempt to devalue mothering.
A parent must ask many questions when reading mainstream media coverage of care research.
Are the definitions just absurd, like the Univeristy of Michigan's School of Social Research study? Does the author's conclusion even match the study's conclusion?
When the studies consistently show home- and center-based day care are mostly mediocre or poor, why does the media focus on the researched impact of high quality day care?
Why is the research on the actual needs of infants completely ignored in discussing day care?
What aren't the researchers investigating that would clearly show the emotional and intellectual impact of day care?
© 1997 jasto@erols.com
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