The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has given Switzerland very low marks for its efforts to support families with young children.


http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/front/Sw...79274000&ty=st

Switzerland is a prosperous country. Hence, there is less need for the Government to be the service provider.

So is Sweden, and it is at #1 on this list. So really no excuse.

Well, keep in mind, the state actually has its hands tide in big decisions... the People must vote and approve so you have to think about the procedure behind all of this stuff before judging what Switzerland is or is not providing.

Having said that, I do think there is plenty of room for improvement...

Quote from the article that intrigues me:

"The Swiss children who are cared for outside of the home do not get the kind of attention they should receive, according to the authors, who found that less than 50 per cent of the minders have a post-secondary education."

Does this matter? When was it decided that children 'should' only get attention from adults with A-levels and degrees (or their equivalents)? What percentage of parents here have a post-secondary eductation - I imagine in the UK it's a lot less than 50%!

kodokan

No wonder Switzerland fails. I can easily pick five out of these ten criteria that would be highly controversial among the Swiss voters.

But we are not listing social(ist) paradises here.

Personally, I'd consider a low proportion of children [under 3] not in "licensed childcare" to be an extremely positive statistic, not a negative one.

Young children should be looked after by their families, not strangers.

Theoretically yes, but on the other hand, having a 3 year gap in the professional life (and in incomes) is not the best thing... I have seen quite a few wives of my fellow friends who had very difficult time finding the job after such a break.

Your view corresponds to what I have perceived is the general view on this matter in Switzerland. Therefore care of children under 3 is viewed purely as care and play-time when mummy can't take care of her own off-springs. There is generally no interest from Swiss families to have their small ones receive any type of pedagogic activities while in the nursery.

This means that the current education of child-minders is purely focused on care.

Also the rules for nurseries are very strict when it comes to the metrics. I.e. staff per child and square meter per child. There are however hardly any requirements on the pedagogy offered.

The only way a nursery can achieve the requirements of staff per child is to have a lot of young teenagers hired as praktikantinnen. And the only way they can achieve the square meter per child is to have the nursery in lower-cost areas such as industrie gebiets or in office buildings.

Also, the general view is that nurseries are partially good-will institutions and should as such be run purely on a no-profit basis.

My personal opinion is that it is these requirements that is the reason why Switzerland lands so low in the ranking (which didn't surprise me one bit). And this at a very, very high cost. A Swiss full-time nursery spot costs approx. 2'500 CHF/months.

Had the requirements been different, the cost would be lower and the quality higher.

It will be very interesting to observe if the mindset will change now after this low ranking. I hope it will act as a wake-up call.

Which *is* something that should be considered negative.

Having your children cared for by mothers/grandparents/aunties/etc, however, should most emphatically not be. That criteria, at least, is broken IMHO.

Swedish salaries are much lower than Swiss, yet the cost of living is comparable. This forces both parents to work. And the toddlers are shunted into daycare.

I am glad that I live in Switzerland and not in Sweden.

Me too. Hoverer, I can't help being frustrated at times by the Swiss attitude to mothers who want to combine motherhood with a fulfilling professional life. The system (as well as the general attitude I should add) here does not make it easy. Not that most women forced on the job market in Sweden have a fulfilling professional life ... I know quite a few who would by choice be at home but can not for the reasons you mentioned.
Never a perfect world ...

We were actually considering a move to Sweden when my hubbie was offered a job here. I found a great Krippe here with flexible hours and very few children. Being only 2 minutes from my work means I can leave him there a short day and I spend lunch times with him sometimes as well. My 2 1/2 year old son loves it there and gets so bored the days he doesn't go. If he had a brother or sister at home to play with then I might change my mind, but he needs the contact with other children, and I get sick of being ordered around on how I should be playing

Even if my family was nearby, I would never leave him with them or my in-laws. They don't pay enough attention to what he is doing and forget to keep an eye on him because they are trying to get other things done. Smacking and and shouting was also the done thing in their time.

Let's hope so. Even at 4, the Kindergarten system is not setup for both Parents to work.

Some mothers would go mad staying at home full time!!!

Also children benefit from being in Nursery groups and interacting with other children. This interaction is an essential part of growing up. I've clearly seen many differences between children who are primarily at home with thier Mums and one's who are in nursrey groups.

Dont worry Australia sucks as well.

Kanton Zug was discussing giving all children the opportunity to attend pre-Kindergarten, and making it compulsory for kids from families that don't speak the local language at home.

For me, having my son speak the local language before Kindergarten is very important. How would he understand the other kids in the neighbourhood or at the park? Kids are sometimes very mean and not being able to understand them would be frustrating.

I haven't seen young teenagers hired as praktikantinnen, but more like young adults.

I thought the reason Krippe were in office buildings was because they weren't allowed in residential buildings. Offices are also generally bigger and most apartments don't have the space for a group of kids nor a garden. I can see that renting an entire house may be out of their budget.

On a personal level I've found that like many family issues it is an 'each to their own' type of attitude too as well as a failure in terms of Swiss policy regarding its childcare.
The length of time off for pregnant/new mothers is a joke.
At the moment I am a father of 2 children under 4 & because of recent problems with work I look for them 2 or 3 days a week as my wife works 80% saving us at least 150SFr a day whilst I wait a couple of months for my new contract to start.
Given that creches & nurseries are so expensive I am amazed that although other family members have young children no-one ever bothers to do anything with all the kids together, there is no real child care culture here or a sense of community for those who contribute greatly to the survival of the Human Race.
In the UK if I wanted I could pop out to a nursery even for just a couple of hours (especially in the winter) I could & it makes a big difference.
I also have the feeling that there are many parents alone all day that would love to let their kids mingle with others at least for an afternoon a week whilst having a nice coffee or two together.
I'm new to this & understand now how tough it is to do now, it really is a full time job (I say up to my elbows in dirty nappies & washing whilst trying to cook lunch!), please, please can I go back to being a wage slave as soon as possible!

Actually thinking about it....I never even got a call to ask if everything was OK from my mother-in-law, my mother would definitely have called to offer help if needed if my partner was alone with them....sad Swiss, really!

I think all children are different; in my case my son took to his nursery environment like a duck to water. He went there as soon as I had to go back to work after the 16 weeks maternity leave I took.

He loves going and the staff and other kids are pretty constant with very little changes, except for the odd addition of a new kiddie or the moving on of another.

He has come on in leaps and bounds developmentally, and contrary to an earlier post, they do have a structure for even the younger babies to encourage them.

I wanted to go back to work; I enjoy my career, but if I hadn't found suitable childcare or had my little fella been unhappy with being apart from his mum and/or dad all day, either my husband or I would have given up work for a couple of years until we were all ready to try the nursery thing again.

I agree that there are some parents who want to be at home with their little ones and prefer to give up work to care for them. That is what works for them and is no more right nor wrong than using external childcare.

We as parents beat ourselves up about every aspect of our offspring's upbringing but as long as a child is loved and cherished I think you can't go far wrong.

I also wonder about the economic effects of having readily available childcare and women being *expected* to work.

In fact, I felt the pressure strongly in Sydney....it's virtually impossible to afford to live in Sydney, with children, unless both parents are working. Salaries are not nearly as high as Switzerland...

It's a long-way from when my parents bought their family home, based on 40% of my dad's income... We have friends who are buying houses where 100% of the first income earner goes on mortgage only (we think that is sheer lunacy, but it's the only way to get 'into the market'...)...So what happens if one partner cannot work for whatever reason, or they have children ???

I feel like in Australia, it's got to the point where two incomes is expected, and everything is factored on that calculation...and that will keep salaries for primary earners lower than if culturally, salaries are supposed to be enough to keep a wife and children at home...

Now, maybe that's limited only to my husband's line of work (teachers are paid significantly more in Switzerland than in Australia)...but at least for us, we appreciate that we can raise our three children here on his salary...and I don't *have* to work...