Losing our much dreamt-of retirement to poverty-related longer careers is one thing. But losing it to our grandchildren is another matter entirely. A Government report has revealed that parents are shunning inflexible and expensive state childcare in favour of dumping their offspring with Grandpa and Grandma while they head off to work. It's a case of 'all hands on deck', with even neighbours being pressed into childcare duties.
The report, commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, has found that for many parents the high cost of nurseries means that it's hardly worth their while working. Yet the number of parents taking advantage of free nursery places is much lower than the government had anticipated.
According to experts, parents find the childcare provided by the government inflexible and institutionalised. Says Jill Kirby of the Centre for Policy Studies, "This research confirms what a lot of independent studies have been showing for some time, that families don't want to use formal and registered childcare of the kind which triggers government subsidies. The kind of care the government has been seeking to promote is not in the child's or the mother's interests".
Kirby concludes "If parents are working, the childcare they want is a kind that most closely resembles their own, and that's extended family care or part time and informal care."
The experts seem to have plenty to say about the rights of children and parents, but precious little about those of grandparents. Having brought up their own children, and had their own careers, surely the least they can expect is to enjoy their own retirement.
