Читать книгу Raising Babies: Should under 3s go to nursery? - Steve Biddulph, Steve Biddulph - Страница 23

The final thing to notice on this visit to the nursery is how slowly time passes. You don’t wonder at the high staff turnover, or the fact that many carers move on to more interesting or varied lines of work. But remember how time passes for a child. A day is a really long time when you are only two, even for a happy child. A day at home can be long too, but it is punctuated by being part of the parent’s life – going about, meeting friends, shopping – in a way that can be made enriching and interesting. There is more variety and change in a child’s world outside than inside the fences or walls of a daycare centre.

In the chapters that follow, you will find that each of these concerns, these ‘seat-of-the-pants’ observations, are shown by research to be factors that make a nursery a second-rate environment for children under three. You will also discover how hard it is to cater for this age range in a group setting, whereas for the over-threes it becomes the very thing that, in moderation, supplements what parents provide, and prepares children for school. The research picture supports what common sense might tell us, that distorting the natural social environment of children has disturbing results. However, you should trust your own impressions above all, as ultimately you have to decide for yourself if the research supports or denies your own common sense.