To ‘the perfect storm’ you describe (NZ's child criminals, March
23) of circumstances so stacked against children that ‘a brush with the law is
almost predetermined’, we may well add the factor of child care.
A major new scientific review by the The Brainwave Trust discloses that
childcare increases the risk of respiratory illness, obesity, hyperactivity and
aggression. They conclude that – guess what? – mothers have been underestimated;
that their presence has profound beneficial neurobiological effects on their
young children, and that the earlier children are separated from their mothers,
the greater the deprivation incurred.
In reality this is all blatantly obvious. Many mothers’ common sense sees
them actively resist societal pressure to abandon their little children into the
arms of complete strangers. Many more mothers must agonize over their perceived
need to give in and go back to work.
But if, as it seems, we need research to point this out, then we need also
to welcome the data and promote it, so that families can re-evaluate their
lifestyle and return it by innovative thinking to the relative peace and
happiness of homes with mothers in them.
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