Nursery: fundamental in the development of the child

In our country, the situation of nursery schools is dramatically lagging behind the European average, yet it is a fundamental stage for the development of the child.

It doesn’t seem possible, and yet this has happened in the last two years. The Italian nursery schools instead of increasing in number and frequency, finally bringing us alongside the other European countries that have always invested in the sector, have decreased and many have even had to close their doors multicultural day care.

An educational disaster

Until a few years ago, in fact, Italian nurseries were so few that waiting lists prevailed, so the parent hoped that his child could enter, rightly seeing in this educational institution a necessary landing place for his growth and his future and also to ensure the possibility of continuing to work. The economic crisis has swept this picture away, offering us a further insight into an educational disaster that matches the economic crisis.

The very fact that Italy is unable to come out of the recession like other European countries – England, Germany and Austria – appears strongly connected with the abandonment of quality school policies and, above all, of policies in support of attendance. of children in nursery schools.

The need for new government policies

Unfortunately, the crisis has cleared customs of a self-damaging and counterproductive resentment against these important structures: in recent years several economists have unwisely supported the economic value of entrusting children to grandparents and grandmothers rather than to early childhood educational institutions.

Undoubtedly, few nurseries are too expensive and a government policy that supports families in this economic effort is urgently needed, well beyond the paltry amount that can now be deducted from the tax return. However, it must be said that an economic approach that is not very inclined to evaluate investments as a whole has weighed heavily, with the hope that saving on everything and everyone in the end would have a positive result. If anything, parents who care about their children can evaluate the quality of the nursery, but it is senseless to have doubts about the advantages of the latter compared to more domestic solutions, such as that of entrusting the children to their grandparents.

On various occasions I found myself having to manage situations in pedagogical counseling where grandparents could not do anything other than keep the presence of their grandchildren simply in front of some TV or some video screen. In this way, what are important childhood needs are lost: the coexistence of peers and the need for discovery through the sensory laboratory. But let’s see in detail the advantages of the nest.