An Australian daycare is discouraging the children who attend their facility from wearing Superman, Barbie and Thomas the Tank Engine to school.

Fitzroy’s John Street Community Early Childhood Co-op has removed commercial characters from its toy and book collection.

They are hoping this step will encourage the children to interact and utilize the equipment they provide to ‘enable them to explore and develop natural play skills rather than repeating things they have seen on television.’

The centre’s assistant director said superhero outfits could encourage rough play in boys and girly characters like Barbie and Bratz were unrealistic portrayals of women.

While she didn’t object these characters at home, she believes that childcare should encourage children to use their own imagination.

“We’ve done away with all commercial characters,” she continued. “We have been doing it for quite a while. They (the children) interact with each other more positively. If it’s superheroes its the goody versus the baddie.

“We do find that it changes their play. They need to portray the characters, whoever they’re dressed up as. Our theory is that the kids get enough of that sort of stuff at home.”

I think it’s good for kids to have a break from their cartoon friends. Having a ‘hero free’ zone may give them the chance to be introduced to new skills they may have never learned.

Ten children were hospitalized yesterday after staffers at an Arkansas daycare center mistook windshield wiper fluid for Kool-Aid.

A pediatrician at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock says the children, ages 2 to 6, are OK, but continue to be monitored. The doctor said each child drank about an ounce late Thursday afternoon.

Only one child remained hospitalized Friday morning, after blood samples showed “measurable levels” of methanol, a highly toxic alcohol that can induce comas and cause blindness, officials said.

The daycare’s operator, Carolyn Bynum was interviewed today by child welfare investigators and gave up her license.

Even though she did not comment on the event Julie Munsell, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services did say,

“She was so upset about what had occurred and she was definitely worried some of the children had been injured. It was just a mistake, she says. She says it was just a horrible mistake.”

This whole situation is sad for everyone involved. We hope that none of the kids have long term effects from what has happened.

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Well that is exactly what happened to Australian couple Bharat and Gayatri.

“He arrived about 6:50 p.m. My wife was crying. We went into the center and switched on the lights” Bharat told the Sydney Morning Herald. “We opened one door and there was no one inside. Then we noticed the door to the next room and there she was, lying in the dark.”

Ankita their one-year-old daughter was mistakenly left behind after the staff at Scribbles and Giggles day care center left for the day 45 minutes earlier.

The tots parents called police and the center’s owner was tracked down.

Anika’s dad said that

“She was lying on a bouncer, harnessed, sleeping. I could make out from her face that she was OK. I was just extremely relieved. I picked the baby up and just held her in my arms and she started crying.”

Bharat and his wife Gayatri called police and the center’s owner was tracked down.

The director of the center, Anthony Khali, said the facility’s policies and procedures had been changed to prevent a repeat incident.

“I think it was just a very big misunderstanding,” he said. “I think we’re fortunate in the fact that the baby was safe. What we’ve gone through in the last week, I’d say, would be worse than whatever fine they give us. Living with what happened is bad enough.”

If this was my son – I might harm someone…

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A leading children’s author has spoken out against mothers for hindering their child’s long-term development by returning to work soon after having children.

Michael Morpungo, former laureate criticised working mothers for not spending enough time with their children during the important early years of life, arguing one in ten young people are suffering from mental health problems, anorexia and sleep disorders.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he was astounded to find mothers sent their children to school at four or five years of age.

“We pack our children off to care groups or even to school, but many countries in Europe do not send their children until they are seven,” he said. “They live in the bosom of their family. That is where they are nurtured – within the nest. That is where they can grow their wings, they can learn to fly.”

Mr Morpungo who received an OBE in the Queen’s New Year Honour’s List for his services to literature said: “It is utterly extraordinary now how many children grow up without their mothers around them. You have got 50 per cent of mothers these days of children under five who are employed outside the home. Well, you are cutting off something there, whether you like it or not, and it may be an uncomfortable thing to recognise.”

Research by Professor Michael Lamb supports these claims. He determined nurseries disrupted children’s happiness and well-being causing unwanted distress after finding levels of the stress hormone doubled during the first nine days in child care without a mother present and continued to increase for five months after in comparison to those that stayed at home.

I have to say that I am fortunate to be able to stay at home with my son. Before I got pregnant, I thought that a year off with my baby would be enough and I would want to go back to work. That has all changed. I could not imagine anyone else experiencing all of his wonderful firsts.

We are very lucky in Canada to get a full year off for maternity leave. The United States has got to increase their maternity leave for new moms. It is just not fair to these women who have barely had enough time to recover from childbirth to go back after 12 weeks. I would have had a nervous breakdown if I had to leave him with a daycare provider at such a young age.

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SOURCE:FEMALEFIRST