What good can you get out of a pandemic? You can learn something or prove something. For example, that parents’ rights do not matter much, which we wrote about HERE. This time we decided to show how the COVID-19 pandemic and what was and still associated with it – lockdown, quarantine, remote work , proved the thesis we have been undertaking for a long time. It’s time to change the way we think about caring for the youngest children and start investing in other forms of care than large nurseries.
Paralysis
We all remember the beginnings. Increasing number of infections, panic, fast closing of schools, kindergartens, workplaces, trade, services, even playgrounds and parks. Some time passed, we learned more about the virus, the first loosening appeared. The government realized fairly quickly that closed kindergartens and nurseries were a ruin for the budget . Because when the children are not looked after by the staff of institutions, parents do so. And usually one parent – the mother. And despite the fact that working remotely, quite a lot of women began to take sick leave and benefits, because working with a small child is impossible – let’s face it. At least not to the extent that the employer expects it. The rest – women on their own, working in free professions or full-time, but in a place where there was no room for negotiations, had to cope somehow. Some burst out nights, some exchanged “roster hours” with their partner, some were fired . But there was pressure and the government understood – we need to open nurseries and kindergartens. Otherwise, we will be bankrupt.
After opening, however, it turned out that – as some predicted – the theory is far from reality. The first infections resulted in the closure of facilities and the quarantine of entire families. The problem is back. The government introduced a solution which, however, helped with the effect, not the source of the problem. Now that the facility has the virus, only the child is in quarantine, and not the siblings and parents. Meaning? None , but at least parents can work. In theory.
How does this relate to the nursery system?
“Nurseries of the Capital City of Warsaw are large institutions with more than 200 organizational places. Adapting children to groups of babies in large municipal institutions increases the risk corns infection. Due to the need to maintain the highest possible safety standards (…), this difficult decision was made. “
Yes m.st. Warsaw motivates the decision not to accept children under the age of 1 to nurseries in September 2020. Effect? There is no room for tens, if not hundreds of children who were under a year old in September, and parents – or rather mothers – left on their own, regardless of their career plans. The Act on the care of children up to 3 years of age provides for the admission to nurseries of children after the age of 20 weeks, and Warsaw has facilities with departments for children.
Smaller facilities, less risk of contamination
The city provides places for baby groups in subsidized non-public institutions that are small and intimate, and reduce the risk of contamination
Even local authorities know this and clearly admit it.
If one person is found to be infected with the virus – a child or a caregiver, and the facility is closed or its staff and children are quarantined, the number of “excluded” people is much smaller. Fewer children in the group = fewer children in quarantine. And this means fewer parents excluded from work, fewer companies without employees and less paid care allowances.
Additionally, points such as the day caretaker have practically no service personnel, which also limits contact with outsiders. Children’s meals are either provided by parents or by a catering company, which can be provided with the highest sanitary restrictions.
The other way around is the same. Smaller groups and fewer people in the facility are less likely to bring the virus and transmit it less.
Daily caregiver to help with remote work
When working remotely, which is maintained by a large proportion of workplaces, day care points could support parents in remote shift work . Day care centers are more flexible and can operate at times more adapted to the parents’ work needs, also in quarantine.
How to protect yourself for the future?
Experts – virologists, biologists, epidemiologists and finally sociologists say with one voice that pandemics like COVID-19 will happen in the future and we must prepare for them.
Changing the childcare system, investing in small, flexible care points for children in exchange for building large institutions is also a protection in the event of further epidemics. This is the time to revise what we have done so far and to think about how childcare can be more flexible and able to make temporary and quick transformations.
Text:
Agnieszka Krzyżak-Pitura