[EDITORIALS]Child care concerns society

The recent child abuse case at a private day care center gives us a glimpse of how some of our families and society have become dark areas where unacceptable and unthinkable acts are being committed.
Supervision that has no clear-cut guidelines or policies, families enmeshed in constant domestic violence, people still believing in the educational effects of physical punishment ― all these have only contributed to harm our little children.
If it had not been for an observant teacher who noticed that a student was limping, the abuse would have continued, which is a scary thought.
Today’s society demands two-paycheck households. In four out of 10 households, both the husband and wife work. This is a result of the asian economic crisis, which caused a drastic change on families’ financial stability in this country. Women are now feeling more than ever the need to share the childrearing burden. Taking care of the children has become both the family’s and society’s responsibility.
However, public care centers can address only 13.4 percent of total demand, with 1,294 centers around the country. No wonder more parents are dependent on private day care centers. But there aren’t really any administrative monitoring of these private centers. The center in abuse case has not been allowed to operate on a 24-hour basis but has been letting children sleep in dorms. The center’s use physical punishment to control children shows how uncontrolled these places can be.
The head of this center reportedly used soap and a sponge to “clean out” children’s mouths and beat them with a rod to force them to smile. Treating children like dirty laundry, crushing their dignity and destroying their innocence are just acts of total cruelty and absurdity. Our society should throw away its blind faith in physical punishment and its supposed effectiveness.
Although financial demands may require a double-paycheck household, it’s ultimately the parents’ responsibility to raise its children. The responsibility cannot be avoided nor can money take it away.