Excuse me please, I just need to interrupt
The latest Woke instructions have landed in Victoria with parents now required to ask permission to change their baby’s dirty nappy.
The Only About Children childcare group has sent an extraordinary letter to parents advising them how to be `respectful’ to their child and to ask for the baby’s `help’.
The advice - already implemented by staff in 22 Only About Children centres – encourages parents to wait till the baby/child stops playing or is ready because they “…don’t like to be interrupted.”
“Well who does like to be interrupted when they are having fun or avoiding lockdown?” said Member for Western Victoria, Bev McArthur, describing the instructions to people who know their child better than anyone else as ‘bizarre’.
“As crazy goes – this could rival the chest feeding-breast feeding pearls of wisdom,” Mrs McArthur said.
“Can you imagine a child with a stinky nappy on a hot summer’s day refusing a nappy change?
“Can you hear them saying: Not yet mum – I’ve got a million flies chasing me – I’m aiming for two million – then you can go for it?”
To encourage their child’s independence, parents are also urged to “…ask him to take off his own nappy or wipe himself…”
“As a parent – who has changed many nappies – I can see a few problems with that approach, including total failure of the task,” Mrs McArthur said.
“So, what’s next? Will parents also have to ask permission to clean up the baby’s vomit – allowing the waft of soured milk to linger longer?
“Or perhaps when their runny nose is pouring south – parents should also wait for the signal to rush in and clean up on demand?
“As John McEnroe would say, ‘You cannot be serious?”
The Herald Sun has reported the issue, quoting the child care group’s National Education Manager Angela Ngavaine. She said the approach was based on Resources for Infant Educarers method which ‘sees children as an individual with their own voice and opinion, even if they are non-verbal’.
It encourages parents to ask for permission to wipe their child’s face or to give them a hug.
“Waiting for a non-verbal child to give permission to clean up their vomit, wipe their face, or change their nappy is going to lead to some rather interesting outcomes,” Mrs McArthur said.
“What is wrong with the current method of loving parenting that puts the mother and father, or carer, in charge of a child who is not capable of determining hygiene standards – or even knowing what they are?
“If the child is in charge – then the world has just turned upside down.
“Parents are not peasants.
“This method will simply create a generation of young pharaohs who will demand servantry of others.
“With their own ‘voice and opinion’ this approach will lead to two-year-olds demanding a vote.”
“My advice to parents? Change the smelly nappy, clean up the vomit and wipe their runny noses as soon as possible. Then give them a big hug.”
https://www.oac.edu.au/news-views/respectful-nappy-changes/
1 July 2021