Child Care News
Zen and the art of keeping kids still
Herald Sun - Elissa Doherty - September 09, 2011MEDITATE on this: a Melbourne childcare centre seems to have found a way to keep squirming toddlers still. There are no 'ommms', but there were a few 'umms?' when Kensington Community Children's Co-Operative introduced meditation and yoga classes...
Preschool fees move has parents doing sums and raising expectations
Sydney Morning Herald - Anna Patty - September 8, 2011ALISON BROOKBANKS was paying $110 a day last year to send her daughter, Pia, to private daycare in the inner west. Since enrolling the four-year-old at the Australia Street Infants School preschool in Newtown this year, she has paid that for a full five-day week...
Penny pinching on preschools
Sydney Morning Herald - September 8, 2011To charge market prices for public preschools is "destructive and short-sighted" ...Professor Tony Vinson. THE NSW government has displayed a noble commitment to bring its budget back into the black, but its decision to introduce...
Desperate, costly wait for childcare
The Daily Telegraph - Letitia Rowlands - September 03, 2011DESPERATE parents are paying hundreds of dollars in non-refundable childcare waiting list fees without any guarantee of securing a place. The fees range from $10 at community-run centres to $90 for many centres in the eastern suburbs, inner-west...
Queensland bottom of class for kindergarten attendance
Courier Mail - Tanya Chilcott, Andrew MacDonald and Suzanne Dorfield - August 30, 2011COST is a major barrier stopping parents from sending children to kindergarten in Queensland, experts warn. It comes as the state tries to push its poor kindy attendance rate up to 65 per cent this year and make it universally available by 2014...
Eight children hurt in China child care center stabbing attack
Herald Sun - August 29, 2011A STAFF member went on a stabbing spree at a child care center in Shanghai today, attacking and wounding eight children with a knife, the Shanghai Daily reported. Police arrested the staff member, who is suspected of suffering from psychiatric problems...
Child carers seeking fair deal
The Age - Deborah Gough - ‎August 28, 2011THE childcare union United Voice, launching its campaign for improved wages yesterday, says the high attrition rate among childcare workers - almost a third leave the industry each year - is distressing children and parents. A federal government national workforce study...
Politicians shouldn't play hardball with childcare
The Age - Farrah Tomazin - August 28, 2011But we now have a farcical situation where Baillieu and his Children's Minister, Wendy Lovell, are locked in a battle with the Feds over who should fork out the $1.9 million required to subsidise the service. That's right: $1.9 million...
Strapped for cash, parents push for two years' prep
The Age - Deborah Gough - August 28, 2011Financially burdened parents say the cost of childcare and kindergarten, and the prospect of another year out of the workforce are factors in requesting their children start school early. However, the Education Department is pressuring Mill Park...
Stop teens babysitting, demands nanny agencies
The Sunday Telegraph - Briana Domjen - August 28, 2011NANNY agencies are demanding NSW introduce a minimum age for babysitters, arguing young teenagers aren't capable of caring for other children. The NSW government has developed a guide for young babysitters, saying it's the most common job of 12-15 year-olds in the state...
Wrong sun hat can be a health risk for children
The Daily Telegraph - Letitia Rowlands - August 27, 2011But Kidsafe NSW is warning parents to be careful when choosing hats to protect their children from the sun after a number have been injured while wearing hats with cords. Playground Unit project manager Kate Fraser said the hats present a danger if they become...
Child-care settings can play important role in encouraging healthy eating habits
News-Medical.net - August 26, 2011As the use of preschool child care increases and the prevalence of childhood obesity is at an all-time high, the opportunity to positively impact eating and exercise habits within this setting presents itself. A review in the September 2011 issue of...
21,000 Australian families hit by Greens hypocrisy
Sussan Ley MP - Media Release - August 25, 2011The two political parties happy to hack into your cost of living with a new Carbon Tax...have done it again. This time it's the childcare costs of thousands of Australian families. According to Shadow Minister for Childcare, Sussan Ley, "the Australian Greens performed...
Families go in-house for a pair of helping hands
The Age - Rachel Wells - August 23, 2011MORE Victorian families are turning to au pairs to solve their childcare woes. One Australian-based au pair agency, which places mostly young, female travellers with Australian families, has noticed a 150 per cent increase in requests for au pairs in the past year...
A bear in there & a rally as well
The Age - Michelle Griffin - August 19, 2011HUNDREDS of stuffed toys 'rallied' on the steps of Parliament House yesterday in a Playschool-themed protest against funding cuts to the state's 220 occasional childcare centres. Mothers (and some fathers) came from across the state to fight for drop-in creches...
