Are you a failure? Then be a child minder.

Signs are going up in suburban London. Forgive me for paraphrasing but the gist of them seems to be: "Do you think you've failed your exams?  Have you no interest whatsoever in a career?  At a loose end with no idea what to do with your life?  Then why not consider child-minding?

At no point do the signs suggest that an interest in children might be a good thing.  The implication is that if you are utterly un-ambitious then being semi-responsible for the next generation is a perfect career.

In recent years the teaching profession has gained considerably in kudos.  With so many children spending such a long time with child-minders surely we should be seeking to make child-minding a worthwhile enough profession too to be able to recruit people who can actually bring something to it, rather than using it as a last resort occupation for the aimless?