Lifestyle

More Stay-at-Home Parents Preferred by Most Canadians

More Stay-at-Home Parents Preferred by Most Canadians
Bernadine Racoma

A new public opinion poll commissioned by the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada reveals that Canadians now prefer to see more stay-at-home parents. With the results of the latest survey, the Institute calls on governments to make significant changes to the current approach to early childhood care. The result of the study which involved 2,022 Canadians was released on Wednesday.

Poll results reveal that most parents across Canada would like to be with their small children and it is evidently a clear goal of most modern Canadian families.

Methods used

The study was conducted by Abingdon Research. The survey was done via online interview. The subjects were asked a total of six questions in order to determine their point of view on early child care.

The results of the poll are consistent regardless of age, gender, income or region, or whether the respondents did or did not have children.

Poll results

76% of poll respondents go by the belief that parents should be at home when their children are still under six years old. Of those who have children younger than six, 69% said that they would prefer to stay at home and take care of them. If this is not a feasible option, the next-best option identified by the majority was to have a relative take care of the little ones.

The third option for the responders is daycare run at a neighborhood home. The fourth option is a non-profit daycare center and the last option for the respondents is a for-profit daycare center. The last option was chosen by only 11% of the respondents when asked what they consider to be a good alternative for working parents who cannot opt to stay at home.

Additional recommendations

In addition around 2/3 of the respondents prefer that funding be received directly by the parents themselves instead of going to daycare centers operated by the government. The direct funding may be provided via tax deductions or cash payments. The remaining third prefer that funding be given to the public sector so that government-run childcare centers and public schools may be expanded and improved.

Differing opinions

According to the Executive Director of the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada Andrea Mrozek, the popular opinion is quite contrary to the direction that provincial governments want to take. She refers to the existing funding models to be discriminatory since they mostly emphasize public programs over stay-at-home programs where parents assume the role of primary caregiver for their children.

Mrozek has been a staunch critic of the expansion of government-run day-care programs for young children. The government of Ontario is planning to implement an all-day kindergarten while the government of British Columbia intends to operate a daycare for ten dollars a day.

In the meantime, Executive Director Martha Friendly of the Toronto Childcare Resource and Research Unit said there would be no choice for parents if the government stops funding public daycare programs. People given money and treated, as consumers would not have an alternative because the variety of options available to parents these days comes from publicly-managed systems.

Photo Credit: Taking Care of Children

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