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October 2013 - Education

According to a 2,022 person survey, carried out by the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada (IMFC), three quarters (76%) of Canadians believe stay at home parenting is best for children under six.

Figures drop among people with higher levels of education, three fifths (62%) of Canadians with a post-graduate degree, and two thirds (68%) of those with a university degree, prefer parental care over a day-care, day home or relative.

Researchers also found that higher education affects women’s attitudes more than men’s, seven tenths (69%) of male post-graduates versus half (54%) of female post-graduates cited a stay at home parenting arrangement as ideal, while seven tenths (72%) of males who completed university and two thirds (65%) of females said the same.

IMFC found that when staying at home was not an option, two fifths (41%) of Canadians with a post-graduate and a third (35%) with a university degree preferred a relative as a caregiver.

Residential day homes were preferred by a quarter (23%) of those with a university degree, and a fifth (21%) of post-graduates.

Dr. Tamara Pierce, who is expecting her second child, said:

“There have been so many media scares over the years…on abuses and irreparable harms done by childcare workers, and I’ve become duly sceptical about leaving my child with a veritable stranger.”

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