Margaret Hodge maintains that we must avoid adopting the role of a nanny state, telling parents how they should bring up their children. She argues that the key word must be "choice".
However, many parents and researchers believe that, for the crucial first three years, children need a secure home background and the consistent, loving care of a one-to-one relationship, preferably with the mother.
We therefore insist that mothers can only make an informed choice if they are aware of the harm to which they are exposing their infants if they hand them over to third-party care.
The booming childcare industry can never offer a consistent, one-to-one, loving relationship and there is so much research evidence of the damage done to young children who are denied this right.
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