Opinion: Letters

I read with interest your article about the security glitch on Busy Bees' childcare voucher website (News, 19 February). I have been thinking for some time that the vouchers business seems unregulated and is possibly putting the money of our customers at risk.

These companies hold hundreds of thousands of pounds for a number of days while issuing vouchers. Some companies seem to hold on to the money for an unacceptable length of time before we receive the money in our account, and the cynic in me often wonders if this cash is held longer than needed to prop up their own cash flows. (Some companies are much quicker than others, so I don't want to tar them all with the same brush).

With a number of the companies reporting financial difficulties, I am concerned that it is only a matter of time before a voucher company will fold. If this were to happen, what protection is there for our customers? I hope that my concerns are unfounded, and that there is tight regulation to protect us and our customers.

Jennie Johnson, chief executive officer, Kids Allowed Limited

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GRANDMA KNOWS BEST

Regarding the story about children's centres and playgroups attracting more grandparents (News, 19 February), they are fine as a place for the child and grandparent to socialise some of the time. But they should not replace that incomparable one-to-one focus that a grandparent can offer a toddler. Nothing can beat sitting in 'the Nana boat' and hearing a song or an improvised story.

A grandmother is a cultural/spiritual resource and a fund of stories and songs. For this to be usurped by the EYFS would damage a very special rapport.

Speaking as a grandmother, I think most would agree with that sage Anon who said 'If I'd known grandchildren were so much fun, I would have had them first!'

Gabriel Millar, Stroud, Gloucestershire

SUPPORT FOR FATHERS

Pat Gordon-Smith's article on the conclusions of the Good Childhood Inquiry's final report ('All about', 19 February) makes some important criticisms. But from our perspective at the Fatherhood Institute, the report has a crucial strength: it recognises explicitly the importance of fathers to children, and that society in general, and Government in particular, should do more to support father-child relationships.

But we would have welcomed a stronger emphasis on what children say about fathers. Too often the voice missing from debates about fatherhood is that of children. Daddy, please come to my school sometimes, says one child. I want you to be my teddy at night, says another. What fathers do matters hugely to children, and they will soon tell us this if we ask them.

We also share the author's concern about the Inquiry's sometimes 'finger-wagging' tone. Out of concern to build a better future, it is all too easy to underplay the extent to which children and their families are leading lives that we can justly celebrate. Fatherhood has often suffered from this tendency. We need to hear more voices telling us about how rich and diverse children's relationships with their fathers are.

Perhaps the bleakest finding is just how little society and policy supports father-child relationships. If real change is to be delivered, policymakers and society must start to routinely treat fathers as part of families, rather than as individuals without family responsibilities. There are pockets of excellent support for fathers, but all too often their family role is undervalued or disregarded by employers, by health and education services, and by the housing system (which treats 'non-resident' parents as individuals unless they have the child benefit book).

Pat Gordon-Smith argues that the Good Childhood Inquiry should have gone further, and we would agree. We propose an end to the postcode lottery in which some services do support fathers to be the best dads they can be, but many more do not. If we seriously want a good childhood for our children, all local services should ask themselves how they match up to the challenge of supporting fathers.

David Bartlett, interim joint chief executive, Fatherhood Institute

We need also to remember the research of Professor Michael Lamb of Cambridge showing that too much time spent in a pre-school setting raises the cortisol (stress) level in a child.

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