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Kate Hawkesby: Government shouldn't dictate who looks after your kids

Author
Kate Hawkesby,
Publish Date
Thu, 23 Aug 2018, 8:43AM
This Government feels a need to regulate everything. (Photo / Getty)

Kate Hawkesby: Government shouldn't dictate who looks after your kids

Author
Kate Hawkesby,
Publish Date
Thu, 23 Aug 2018, 8:43AM

In an ongoing bid to regulate everything, the government has decided it needs to be inside the homes of early childhood educators, monitoring how children are cared for.

It’s taking proposals on tighter controls around who runs these in-home services, how qualified they are, and how much health and safety training they’ve had.

This is good and bad.

Good if it runs the cowboys out of town, bad if it actually kills the whole in-home care industry off in the process.

Regulations are good when they reign in the dodgy operators, but more often than not it’s the innocent little old lady running a service for a couple of the kids down the road who ends up penalised.

Qualifications and regulations cost money. Small home-based operators are small and home based often due to the fact they’re not flush with the cash.

It raises the question, how much should the government be involved here?

As a parent, it’s your choice where you put your child for care. You soon know whether you trust or feel good about a particular caregiver, it’s a similar vibe you get when you suss out a babysitter or a potential school for your kids.

The choice to use a home based carer may come down to the fact it’s more affordable than a more highly qualified one.

For many parents, if a person down the road wants to help out a few working parents and open up their home, then do they need to have passed a level 4 qualification?

Likewise, do you expect a babysitter looking after your kids for a few hours, to have a health and safety certificate? Or would a basic grasp of first aid do?

Is it better that your child is cuddled, feels safe, read and sung to? Or that the caregiver knows the philosophy and structure behind Te Whariki?

Do they need to be a certificated playgroup co-ordinator? Or could they just be a fellow Mum used to juggling the needs of small children?

It’s up to you surely, as the parent, to work out what suits you best.

A qualified certificated regulated in home caregiver will cost you more money, but you may well prefer to pay for peace of mind.

For some parents, that may not be a luxury they can afford when they're happy with Sue down the road having the kids for a couple of hours, despite having no certificates.

My hunch is that like much of the regulating of small businesses, all this will potentially do is, (A) drive some businesses underground, or (B) kill the business off entirely. 

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