Day care centers in workplace called for

JAKARTA (JP): Child psychologist Fauziah Aswin Hadis believes that daily visits to playgroups can be too much of a good thing for young children.

She says that up to three visits a week to a group are acceptable, but more than that will leave children bored. Mothers with the luxury of enough time at home should try to spend it with their children, she adds. But she does advocate the setting up of day care centers in workplaces.

Fauziah, born in 1940, enrolled at the University of Indonesia in 1958. She chose to major in psychology although she had passed the examinations to also study at the university's schools of economics and law.

"I chose psychology because at that time there were only a few psychologists in practice," she said. "It was a challenge for me."

In 1961, she became an assistant lecturer and a year later achieved full lecturer status. Since then, she has taken various positions at the School of Psychology, including the head of the child psychology department from the early 1980s to 1993.

She currently chairs the school's extension program which offers evening study courses. Fauziah also serves as a consultant at the Al-Ihzar Pondok Labu education center in South Jakarta.

Three years ago, she took part in the establishment of Al- Izhar's day care and playgroup in Cinere, South Jakarta.

In 1979, she surveyed several playgroups in Jakarta. She discovered that most of them at the time did not have well- designed curriculums.

"That was almost 20 years ago when playgroups were rare. Now, the conditions are totally different," said Fauziah, who obtained her doctorate from the University of Indonesia in 1993 with a thesis on views of parents on child development.

Earlier this week, The Jakarta Post interviewed Fauziah at her home at the police housing complex in South Jakarta.

Question: How do you view the mushrooming of playgroups in Jakarta?

Answer: It's good because people have more choices. But I remind mothers not to rely solely on playgroups. Especially mothers with more time (to spend) with their children. They'd better play more with their children rather than sending them to playgroups.

Q: But isn't it true that most of those sending their children to playgroups are working mothers?

A: Yes, that's one of the reasons why mothers send their kids to playgroups. But still, they should not put their children in playgroups every working day. They may send their kids to playgroups once, twice or three times a week at the maximum. Otherwise, children will easily get bored.

Q: Does this mean you are encouraging mothers who have enough time to spend with their children not to send them to playgroups?

A: No. It's still good to have children at playgroups. But don't make this too often and too long.

Q: What about working mothers who cannot afford to send their kids to playgroups?

A: They can form their own playgroups by organizing working mothers in their own neighborhood. They can use a house owned by one of them as a playground. Or if no house is available, they can use public facilities like mosques or other buildings.

The history of playgroups or day care centers in the United States started from churches, where elderly people offered their services to mothers to take care of their kids. Mothers, of course, were happy with this kind of service so that they could be free or some time and take a deep breath. It's good, isn't it? Remember, most mothers in the States have no servants or baby sitters.

Q: Do you think leaving children with servants or baby sitters at home is good?

A: Well, if they can afford baby sitters, they must be able to afford day cares or playgroups, as not all day cares and playgroups are expensive. Some factories or institutions which employ many women already have day care centers for their employees. Like our Al-Ihzar Pondok Labu education center (in South Jakarta), which runs a day care center for its own employees.

But we have also opened a day care center and a playgroup for the public in Cinere (also in South Jakarta). We feel it necessary to provide such facilities. But, please, do keep in mind that day care centers or playgroups should not be too far away from homes. Otherwise, children would be easily exhausted in the way to and from them.

Q: Do you think it is time day care centers were established in workplaces here?

A: Sure. The problem is that we have no ruling on that. To solve the problem, the government needs to set up a ruling that requires all factories and workplaces which employ a minimum number of women to have day care. It is as simple as that.

Q: What about playgroups?

A: It's quite different. But, again, it's all about regulations. The government should have a ruling requiring all real estate or apartment developers to allocate or rooms for playgrounds. Anyway, that's one of the main problems living in big cities like Jakarta. There are no adequate open spaces for children to play. When my children were still very young, we used to have a large open space here, including a soccer field. So, children and also parents could play every day. It's children's rights to play. If we respect children's rights, we should provide them with enough spaces to play.

Q: What's the actual problem of inadequate space for children to play?

A: Well, human beings are most active when they are three years old. Thus, they definitely need space to play. But not only children, youngsters also need space to play. Thus, the impact of having inadequate space for playing will affect not only children but also youngsters whose families do not have open spaces at home. You can see from the recent election campaign in Jakarta. People just loved joining street rallies. I saw them dancing, singing, shouting and enjoying their freedom. I think one of the reasons is that they live in packed communities with no space to play around. So, you can see how important a playground is for children and youngsters.

Q: Do we really care about space for children to play or about playgroups for education?

A: Well, all your previous questions indicate that mothers do care about children's education. But don't forget, this kind of mother represents only a small portion of mothers in our society. The majority of our mothers still do not care about their children's education. So, what's important for you, the media, is to educate mothers about the importance of their children's education.

I studied about parental ideas of child development, and found that parents' ideas determine the future of their children's education. If they have an idea about (the importance of) education, they would do whatever the could, like saving money, to support their children in pursuing their studies. But if they don't have this, they would not care about their children's education. (rid/kod)