The Price of Day Care Can Be High (but in Quebec, it's $7 per day)

[lindisfarne]

Read the article though; the news isn't all good. Kids in Quebec have paid a price, perhaps due to high teacher-child ratios and low education content. But the article also says
"Meanwhile, the polite thing to say about work and family is that children are resilient little creatures who will end up doing just as well in one situation as another. And obviously a lot of children are thriving in full-time day care, as their parents can attest.
But there is now overwhelming evidence that — at least in the first year of life — most young children are not well served by spending long hours away from their parents. They will have more behavior problems on average and won't learn as quickly, according to various studies done over the last decade."
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June 14, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/14/business/14leonhardt.html?pagewanted=print
David Leonhardt
The Price of Day Care Can Be High
THERE is one place in North America where parents of young children don't have to worry about child care. In Quebec, full-time day care costs just $7 a day — Canadian dollars, at that — thanks to a government program aimed at one of the thorniest problems that workers in their 20's, 30's and 40's face.
<snip>
Judging by the response of parents, the program has been a hit. Centers from downtown Montreal to Hudson Bay were flooded with applications, and the number of children in day care rose almost 50 percent. Mothers who suddenly had an affordable way to return to work did so in droves and gave the economy a lift. Canada's Liberal Party holds up Quebec's program as a model for the rest of the country.
<snip>
Young children in Quebec are more anxious and aggressive than they were a decade ago, even though children elsewhere in Canada did not show big changes. Quebec children also learn to use a toilet, climb stairs and count to three at later ages, on average, than they once did. The effects weren't so great for parents, either. More of them reported being depressed, and they were less satisfied with their marriages — which also didn't happen in other provinces.
<snip>

[NewJeffCT]

1. The horrors!

next thing you know, those Canadians will have universal health care, a balanced budget and the freedom for anybody to marry whom they choose.

[TaleWgnDg]

2. My sentiments exactly !! . . . n/t