After all the hoop-a-la surrounding my Childcare article I find it necessary to qualify a few points about me and this blog.
The name Superdad is aspirational and ironic not factual. i.e. I would like to be a superdad but I know that I am not.
I am only a beginner with one child who is trying to learn as much about parenting as I can. As someone pointed out the real super dads are the single dads who have to juggle work and child raising duties on their own. No arguments here.
I am not a medical practitioner, a child care expert or even a early childhood teacher. In fact I have no qualifications, no experience and generally no idea at all!
Almost everything I post here is opinion only and that is generally based on my own hands on experiences and advice that I have received from other parents.
So… Enter at your own risk!
I am however passionate about raising kids in a loving, caring and supportive environment and I am not afraid to voice my opinions on this.
Equally I am not afraid of admitting I am wrong and changing my mind so I encourage you all to add to the knowledge and worth of this site with informative and useful commentary. Maybe we can all learn something?
Alright, enough said. I am off to find some other thought provoking parenting issue to bang on about…
James xx
Dear James,
I was really saddened by the response to your post about childcare. As a qualified psychologist and a stay-at-home-mum, I can tell you that by staying at home and raising your child, you are giving them the best possible start in life. In my personal opinion, day care centres are no place for children under three. What they provide can in no way match the experience of a child being in the care of a loving one-on-one parent or caregiver. There is also much professional research (by Steve Biddulph and others) to support this view. It’s a terrible thing that our society has such low standards for parental leave and the provision of quality childcare for those parents who must return to work, and something needs to be done. But in the meantime, please be assured that there are many mums and dads who share your view on the value of staying home during the precious years in which your children are small.
All the best,
Sarah