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Infants and children need physical touch and emotional support in early life. Skin-to-skin contact plays a big role in early infant emotional engagement, and a

by aethr 13y ago

Infants and children need physical touch and emotional support in early life. Skin-to-skin contact plays a big role in early infant emotional engagement, and also reduces the likelihood and severity of post-birth depression in the mother. [1] Not sure if your comment was tongue in cheek, but surely raising children is the one thing that we should really always make time to do ourselves. Otherwise why are you having kids at all? [1] http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/infant-touch/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/infant-touch/

pjc50 13y ago
It's a little provocative, but for a lot of people costof childcare is a big issue: http://www.theguardian.com/money/she-said/2014/mar/31/three-small-words-could-end-financial-distress-and-confusion-for-parents-free-universal-childcare http://www.theguardian.com/money/she-said/2014/mar/31/three-... ; and the cost of childcare is almost entirely (labour cost) / (number of children cared for). There are also phases of childhood; yes, infants need to be kept close, necessitating paid parental leave for the first year or so, but as they gradually get more autonomous you can let them play on their own or in small groups, at which point the "AI baby monitor" starts to seem more reasonable. Continuous lifesign monitoring of infants would also be useful; computers, unlike adults, don't have to sleep. Maybe we could prevent or at least reduce/understand SIDS?
- aethr 13y ago
  All good points, especially re: SIDS. For myself, childcare is more than a place to drop my son while I'm working. It's important to me that he is learning, socialising, and experiencing different perspectives from other adults. I'm happy that he gets cuddles and hugs from his teachers when he's upset, or just as part of a game. Although physical contact is certainly most important during early development, my point was a bit broader. Simply that, as humans, there is a meaningful biological utility to physical touch with other humans. It's simply most obvious in infants, but that doesn't mean we "grow out of it". I do understand the financial constraints that childcare brings, but I don't like the look of a future where kids are spending more time with robot nannies and surveillance cameras than they are with their families. Personally, I hope advances in technology mean I have to work less so I can spend more time with my kids!

by aethr 13y ago

pjc50 13y ago

It's a little provocative, but for a lot of people costof childcare is a big issue: http://www.theguardian.com/money/she-said/2014/mar/31/three-small-words-could-end-financial-distress-and-confusion-for-parents-free-universal-childcare http://www.theguardian.com/money/she-said/2014/mar/31/three-... ; and the cost of childcare is almost entirely (labour cost) / (number of children cared for). There are also phases of childhood; yes, infants need to be kept close, necessitating paid parental leave for the first year or so, but as they gradually get more autonomous you can let them play on their own or in small groups, at which point the "AI baby monitor" starts to seem more reasonable. Continuous lifesign monitoring of infants would also be useful; computers, unlike adults, don't have to sleep. Maybe we could prevent or at least reduce/understand SIDS?

aethr 13y ago
All good points, especially re: SIDS. For myself, childcare is more than a place to drop my son while I'm working. It's important to me that he is learning, socialising, and experiencing different perspectives from other adults. I'm happy that he gets cuddles and hugs from his teachers when he's upset, or just as part of a game. Although physical contact is certainly most important during early development, my point was a bit broader. Simply that, as humans, there is a meaningful biological utility to physical touch with other humans. It's simply most obvious in infants, but that doesn't mean we "grow out of it". I do understand the financial constraints that childcare brings, but I don't like the look of a future where kids are spending more time with robot nannies and surveillance cameras than they are with their families. Personally, I hope advances in technology mean I have to work less so I can spend more time with my kids!