Tinies' in-between times

The education system has largely failed to recognise that working parents may find it difficult, if not impossible, to fit in to the standard school hours.

At a recent National Parents Council (Primary) meeting of south Dublin branch, parents expressed concern that children of working parents were being dropped off as early as 8.15 a.m. with no one to look after them. One mother found herself voluntarily hanging around in the morning with her own children, so that all the other children would at least have one adult in the vicinity.

The after-school period throws up similar problems: one in 10 children is cared for by somebody other than parents in the hours after school each day. That's 46,000 children. These are crucial hours for homework and social life.

Yet the views of children have not been sought, Eilis Hennessey points out in her paper Children's Experience of After-School Care. "This is despite the fact that Ireland has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which stipulates that children should be consulted about matters which affect their lives," she writes.

So Hennessey, lecturer in developmental psychology at UCD, decided to consult the children. After all, after-school services should meet children's needs, not just provide a convenience for parents.

And while parents have their children's best interests at heart, parents and children don't always agree on what the children feel is best. We need both points of view, Hennessey argues.

Research has shown, for example, how adept children are at evaluating student teachers. "To ignore children's views, therefore, is to ignore a wealth of valuable information not available from any other source," she writes. Listening to children also gives them equality of respect with other groups in society.

Hennessey looked at different types of after-school in the Dublin area from the point of view of 108 children, with an average age of 6 years and 7 months, attending 11 schools. She wanted to document the children's own perceptions of the activities available to them after school in crΦches, childminders' homes and relatives' homes (usually a grandparent). She wanted to know if they enjoyed their experiences and to record their emotional reactions.

About one-third of the children were in the care of a childminder, a third were cared for by a relative and a third spend the after-school hours in crΦches. Many working parents believe that being cared for by a relative is ideal, but the children don't necessarily feel that way.

Children looked after by relatives were significantly less likely to have other children to play with. Only 60 per cent of children cared for by relatives had other children to play with, compared to 100 per cent in childminders and 95 per cent in crΦches.

Children cared for by relatives and childminders were much more likely to spend the after-school time watching TV.

Two-thirds of children cared for in crΦches watched TV, compared to 97 per cent of children cared for by childminders and 100 per cent cared for by relatives.

As for reading, children cared for by childminders were least likely to have access to books (52 per cent), but they were most likely (100 per cent) to have an outside area to play. Books were available to eight out of 10 children cared for by relatives and crΦches.

CrΦches offered children the greatest opportunity to play with toys, although relatives and childminders were close behind. While relatives did not present the ideal option in terms of other children to play with, some grandparents offered enriching experiences. One seven-year-old girl who was looked after by her grandmother said: "There's lots of toys and there's millions of books."

Another seven-year-old girl said of her grandparents' house: "Well I go out into the greenhouse and there's this kind of chair and a kind of a blankety thing and I put it down on the ground and I lie down on it and sometimes I have my lunch there. It's really hot, it's nice."

A seven-year-old boy in a crΦche said: "Oh I think I like two things the best, going outside to play. No, I like three. Going outside to play, getting your dinner there . . . and going upstairs to play with all the toys, because upstairs there's good toys." Asked what they liked "a lot", most children said playing outside (72 per cent), followed by TV (65 per cent), toys (59 per cent) and books (38 per cent).

THE vast majority of children were happy in their after-school situation, but there are things we could be doing to improve the experience for them. Why, for example, do relatively few childminders have books? This could be because only childminders caring for three or more children, other than their own, are covered by regulations.

And why did 20 per cent of children in crΦches not go outside to play? Play areas are required under legislation, so why didn't the children have access to them?

Children cared for by grandparents were most likely not to have friends to play with, perhaps because grandparents do not live in areas with large numbers of children, or perhaps because grandparents live too great a distance from the school.

The lesson from this study is: if you really want to know how your children feel about after-school care arrangements, ask them. The changes required to make the experience even happier for them may not take much effort.