Guilt Free Childcare?

I've never noticed anyone feeling "guilty" about leaving their child in daycare.  I've talked with mothers who exibit no sense of remorse for spending their entire day at the yact club while their child sits in a cramped daycare room from 7 AM to 6 PM. 

Apparently, there are some parents out there who do feel guilty.  I have seen some parents play the part of feeling guilty.  I did actually witness a mother tear up once leaving her baby at daycare for the first time only to later ask me if I was available on the weekends so she and her husband could go out.  I've also given pep talks to parents who clearly see that their child is suffering from a sense of abandonment.  In this case, the needs of the child are overlooked so that I can reassure the parents, "don't worry, he's gonna be okay".

Anyway, according to research reported by some Norwegian Institute of Public Health, there is no reason to feel this guilt anymore for those parents who feel they may have abandoned their child to be raised by strangers all day.  Lets never mind these are the most important developmental years of a child's life.  Their personalities, sense of well-being, self-worth and belonging are formed during this time. 

So what are the defendable excuses for not feeling guilty?  First of all, there are only 2 of them.  The first reason is that a child who goes to daycare has far more advanced language development than one who stays at home with a parent.  Why?  Because they have lots more language stimulation by their peers and "teachers" in a given day.  I can attest that the toddlers I work with aren't saying much and when prompted to do so they are often times less likely to say anything.  I can also attest that many of the children have poor listening skills and are often very obstinate when guided or asked no to do something.

The second reason (which is a laugh in half) is that while daycare children tend to suffer more respiratory and ear infections, by the age of 5 these same children have fewer illnesses.  I work in daycare.  I am always sick and extremely fatigued.  I'm wiping runny noses all day; it never stops -- EVER.  What the study fails to recognize is that not only have these children been left to be raised by someone else in the most crucial mental and emotional developmental years of their lives, they have also been sick during most of that time.  I can't imagine there is anything worse that to be a small child who is sick all of the time and mom or dad is rarely around.

What a load of nonsense.