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Paid to Stay Home
May 28, 2012
The more that you read, the more things you will know, the more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.
-Dr. Seuss
-Dr. Seuss
Critics point out, as noted in the Economist (May 5, 2012), that this seems to be an odd remedy given Germany's shrinking and aging population and the existing preference for women to stay at home. "German women work fewer hours than women in most other OECD countries... In 2008 just 18% of children under the age of three were in formal child care, against the OECD average of 30%."
Critics point out that investing more in creches might be a better idea. "Good creches are thought by some to be a cure-all. By helping women to combine motherhood and career, they relieve skills shortages, boost growth, and reduce inequality between the sexes. They might even lift Germany's miserably low fertility rate. Children of immigrant parents are often handicapped by speaking German badly; creches help to correct that."
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Comments (2)
Displaying All 2 CommentsRotterdam, Netherlands
Living in a neighborhood full of the same sort of immigrants Germany has, most of these mothers do not work and don't think would place their children in a creche no matter what the quality. They band together in their own cultures and support each other. What we do have over here, not sure if they have it in Germany, is a toddler school for children from age 2 where parents can take their children for 2-5 days most are for 2 hrs for a nominal price, less than 2 Euros/week in most cases because of the funding they receive and many immigrants take advantage of this. Regular schooling begins here begins the day a child turns 4.
Here parents receive a monthly amount based on age of the child. It seems to have only been a way for immigrants to get money so they have more children than the "natives" who are much more conscientious with their money and the reality of how much it costs to raise a child and also how small this country is, so some limits are being placed on how much one family can receive.
Having worked in military childcare, and others, and seen infants coming to childcare at 6 weeks receiving excellent care...I'm still all for parents who have the ability to stay home with their child, especially when they're so little.
There are also not so many jobs available in these countries so not sure where the mothers would work, especially when they don't know the native language.
Just thoughts from someone living in the situation, far from the American way of thinking.
Penn State
State College, PA, United States
Wasn't one of the arguments against the old Welfare (AFDC) that we were paying women to stay home and take care of their children, which they didn't do to our satisfaction? How odd to have Merkel link this to "choice."
I tend to agree with the idea of providing more spaces in creches. Perhaps the choice might be full time or half time. (The French do that don't they? And in Reggio Emilia they are experimenting with half day programs.) Certainly the opportunity to become fluent in German would be an asset for immigrant families. Of course there may be quality issues. I would not want my child in a low quality program. That should not be part of the choice.
Margaret
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