Any parent or guardian of young children will know that sometimes things come home from day care that there is no explanation for.
Another kid’s hat, socks, sand, a building block, half an apple, sand, artwork that isn’t your kids, even more sand, SERIOUSLY KID, ARE THEY MAKING YOU BATHE IN THE SANDPIT, HOW CAN YOU BRING SO MUCH SAND BACK WITH YOU?
But all of that is nothing compared to what is becoming a common practice in many if the upmarket nurseries in Japan. Because they are sending home the child’s soiled nappies.
That’s right, in a recent survey they found that 40% of childcare centres demand the parents or guardians also take home the worst doggy bag ever.
“I’ve never told the day care that it bothers me because I don’t want to rock the boat. But it’s strange,” said one anonymous mother whose daughter attends a day care in Kyoto “Why should I take them home?”
While it is not mandatory across all of Japan, it has been in Kyoto since 2011, according to newspaper Mainichi Shimbun, although it is up to the centres discretion if they enforce it.
The centres enforcing these practices say it is for health reasons. Not their workers, but the health of the children saying that parents or guardians can then examine the nappies to make sure the stools are healthy, or to keep track of the number of times a child pooed during the day.
They also say it is a throwback to the days before disposable nappies, plus it keeps costs down for the centres according to Yukinori Abe, of the municipal government’s children’s future bureau, who told Mainichi Shumbun “Guardians buy crayons and other items that are used by individual children at the centre … the same goes for diapers, with guardians bearing the cost of their disposal.”
So what do we think Australia, is this something we should adopt here? I mean my kids bring home enough coughs and colds from childcare, why not throw bags of crap in the mix?