By Sarah Smith

Early childhood education is a passion of mine. If you are a women or a mother (or father for that matter) who doesn’t want to know the hard truth about the early childhood sector then I suggest you stop reading. I realise this is a touchy subject for many but these conversations need to be had for the sake of the next generation. This is not about making you feel guilty or shaming you but rather having an honest look at objective truth. Unfortunately articles like the one below reaffirm my aversion to working in the industry. When one quarter of teachers wouldn’t send their own children to the center they work at, it speaks volumes. What is the issue with ECE in NZ? Where do I start? The class sizes are too large, not enough access to nature, noise levels are too high, personalised & individualised care is not always possible, profit based models means corners get cut to name just a few issues. What is the problem in the bigger picture? Giving your child over to an “educator” in early childhood for more than 2 – 3 mornings (under 3 years of age especially) is a very recent thing. Fulltime care for babies, infants and young children is not normal and not healthy. The relationship with the mother in the early years is vital. This then creates the model for all future relationships. If your child has not had that stable connection and instead has had a number of different early childhood teachers it sets up unstable attachment patterns & makes bonding difficult. Further more the preschool child’s nervous system is under huge pressure in many centres which can have long term health effects. Children learn to disassociate and concentration levels are unavailable to develop effectively. Anyone with a basic understanding of neuroscience will know that being in a fight, freeze or flight state long term is not sustainable for good cognitive development. To top it all off, society & the government have now normalised the factory farming of our children in the early years and parents feel inadequate, thinking they don’t have what it takes to educate & nurture their children. This means that rather than parents instilling their values into the child, the state will programme the child’s mind. The great Greek philosopher Aristotle once said, “Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man.” The state knows this and wants children institutionalised from a younger and younger age which means as adults they will be much more easy to control. Of course the toxic ideology of feminism has also destroyed the desire for many women to raise their own children, rather making them feel they need to be climbing the corporate ladder. I could speak for days on this topic. We need to bring back the sacredness of early childhood and support mothers to be mothers so children can be children. https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/early-childhood-teachers-reveal-centres-secrets-in-national-survey