Nursery World - Study the children

I couldn't agree more with Steve Biddulph, as a parent and childcare training adviser. I am carrying out small-scale research on the importance of emotional wellbeing in the early years and my findings relate completely to Steve Biddulph's work. Rosemary Murphy refers to the findings of Penelope Leach, arguing that these results and other research are misinterpreted by the media. Could it be that these results are in fact politically damaging for a Government intent on pushing mothers of babies back to work, hence the need to delay official results being published? What really concerns me is that Murphy takes the usual line of defence that 'day nurseries, practitioners and working mothers are under attack'. This is not the purpose of these studies. It is not about those working with the child, it is about the child!

Rosemary Murphy refers to the findings of Penelope Leach, arguing that these results and other research are misinterpreted by the media. Could it be that these results are in fact politically damaging for a Government intent on pushing mothers of babies back to work, hence the need to delay official results being published? What really concerns me is that Murphy takes the usual line of defence that 'day nurseries, practitioners and working mothers are under attack'. This is not the purpose of these studies. It is not about those working with the child, it is about the child!

Let's stop fighting against the evidence and work together to make it better for every child.

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