Leon Bafondoko hopes that the proposal he comes up with can help make everyday life easier for those who work in the nurseries. Photo: Morten Andersen / news – We spend a lot of money today to finance kindergarten places for parents who do not want to prioritize their time with their children, says Leon Bafondoko. He works as an environmental supervisor in a kindergarten in Trondheim. There he sees how they struggle with high work pressure and high levels of sickness absence. That is why he wants to change the law so that parents must report to the nursery when they are working, and that they can only have their children there when the parents are at work. – The kindergarten was intended as a tool to help parents of young children who had to combine the life of young children with a hectic working life. It looks like we have reached a generation of parents who have forgotten the purpose of kindergarten, says Bafondoko. He refers to a case in VG where parents delivered their children to the nursery during Christmas while they themselves had Christmas off. Mother Camilla Storsve disagrees with Bafondoko’s statement. She is on the collaboration committee at Høgåsmyra kindergarten in Rissa in Indre Fosen. – I think there could be various reasons why they are at home without children as well. It could be sick leave, it could be mental health and different things, says Storsve. Tiril thinks it’s good to be home from kindergarten when mum Camilla is home. Now Tiril goes to school while little brother Sverre goes to kindergarten. – You can take a city tour and you can come up with a few things, adds Camilla Storve. Photo: Ingrid Lindgaard Stranden / news Nevertheless, she chooses to have the children at home when she is there herself, in order to spend as much time as possible with her two children. But she believes this is up to each individual parent. – It is an offer you have and it is the job of those in the nursery. Then I actually think they can benefit from it too. And being in the nursery is an important learning arena for the children. It was VG who also wrote about Bafondoko’s proposal first. – Not Labor politics Municipal councilor for the Labor Party in Trondheim, Trude Basso, has no faith that the proposal to Bafondoko will go ahead. Photo: Stein Roar Leite Trude Basso is a party colleague with Bafondoko in the Trondheim Labor Party. Today she is a municipal councilor for the party, but she is also a doctor and mother of three. She is clear that the proposal to change the law comes from Bafondoko herself – and is not what Trondheim Ap thinks. – There is no one who can sit as superintendent and decide when it is right to send the children to kindergarten. Because no one has insight into each individual family, says Basso. When her children went to kindergarten, it happened that the children were sent there, even when she had time off. – Sometimes the children are better off being in the nursery. The family is better off if the children follow their routines, than if they have to be out of the nursery as soon as one of us is home, says Basso. She will be very surprised if the proposal is adopted at the Labor Party’s annual meeting. – The nursery is a good place for the children. It has a completely separate function and role that goes far beyond parents having a place to put their children while they themselves are at work. Is it okay for parents to send their children to kindergarten even if they have time off from work? Yes, it must be fine! No, that’s not okay! Hmm, not sure here then. Good points for and against here! Show result Research carried out at, among others, NTNU shows that the youngest children are stressed by long days in kindergartens. Photo: Petter Strøm / news Need-tested length of stay In his job at the nursery, Bafondoko sees that many children have long days during the week. – There are no one-year-olds who benefit from being in kindergarten for 41 hours a week, he says. That is why he wants to introduce needs-tested stay time in the nursery. – It must work in a way where parents report their need for a nursery place based on their working life. – Those who work shifts report to the nursery that they are shift workers and get the opportunity to have their children in the nursery based on their working life, says Bafondoko. He believes this will contribute to helping with the staffing crisis many kindergartens have today. – Children benefit from being with their parents, says the Ap politician. – The nursery is a good place Leader of the Høyre’s women’s forum, Sandra Bruflot, believes Bafondoko is turning the debate around with her proposal. She believes that kindergartens are a good place to be independent of what the parents do. Photo: Hans Kristian Thorbjoernsen / Hans Kristian Thorbjoernsen Bafondoko’s proposal also faces opposition from the Conservative Party. – Kindergartens are an educational place where children learn to play and learn to learn, together with other children. So I think it’s a bit of a strange starting point that you should be entitled to nursery school based on what the parents do, says Sandra Bruflot. She sits in the Storting and is head of the party’s women’s forum. Bruflot thinks it is very strange if there is an activity requirement for the parents in order for children to be allowed to attend the nursery school. – Does that mean that the children whose parents are not at work may not have the right to a nursery place, then? These will be children who need the kindergarten a little extra to learn a language or learn how to socialise, says Bruflot. She does not buy the claim that parents often send their children to daycare in order to spend time on themselves. – Parents also need profit. You need to be able to be present for your children. If it means that you run errands, go in, work at other times of the day than when the nursery is open, then that is not deprioritizing your children, says Bruflot.
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Labor politician Leon Bafondoko wants to stop parents from taking parental leave – faces opposition in his own party – news Trøndelag – Local news, TV and radio
