Where are all the grannies?

WHILE I know very little about babies and the rearing of young children in general, in an Ireland where it is the norm for both parents to work outside the home I know nothing at all regarding childcare during the working day. In other words, in matters such as the minding of the nest and its precious occupants, Iâ€â„¢m a complete ignoramus. Even worse, though itâ€â„¢s many years since I lapsed, I remain of the persuasion that advocated against the folly of sparing the rod and spoiling the child. I know that because whenever I see a young fellow acting the maggot, as we used to say, Iâ€â„¢d have it in an instant what was good for him only, maybe it hadnâ€â„¢t been administered in time. In what was a less complicated world all would know what I was referring to and nod in agreement; a good hefty application of the age-old remedy in a pagan place where heâ€â„¢d most feel it. Yet even to one such as I it was immediately clear from the special RTÉ1 Prime Time programme A Breach of Trust, screened on Tuesday of last week, that the manner in which tiny tots were being shouted at, pushed around, left in isolation, put behind closed doors, was wrong, and horribly so. Distressingly, it was also probable that the instances so admirably brought to light by RTE were not the only such instances and, not for the first time, one felt the need to ask why it always takes a television channel to shine a light into such dark and ghastly places. Reporter Oonagh Smyth introduced the programme, saying the object was to investigate childcare in Ireland and ask if the system of regulation that upholds standards of care is good enough. To which the short answer is, No! To which I would add, where are all the usual channels that should normally investigate such abuse? It beggars belief that there was not even a basic level of protection for those kids from anywhere despite the enormous corporate structures maintained at huge taxpayer expense to protect not just young children but all the vulnerable and yet such terrible abuse happens. Somebody somewhere is asleep at the switch and whoever it is that is supposed to keep him awake is asleep too. On the morning after the programme, the sight of young kids being so badly mistreated was still bothering and my thoughts turned to fathers for whom it cannot have been easy to leave their pride and joy at a crèche and head off for work with no idea one way or the other how the little darling might be treated. All crèches are not as depicted on Prime Time, of course not, but even with the best of them a sense of a trust, maybe not broken, but dented as a consequence and in a world where parents have little choice other than deposit their children at a crèche and hope for the best. Presumably someone had given RTÉ a reliable tip-off and as a consequence there was a good certainty that a costly and time-consuming investigation would pay handsome dividends for the hard-pressed television channel. Investigations were put in train into the mistreatment of young children at three crèches in Dublin and Wicklow, and when what was uncovered was screened on Prime Time waves of shock and horror swept across the country and havenâ€â„¢t ebbed away even yet. Hopefully, remedial measures will now be put in place to prevent anything similar ever happening again because, even though I would consider myself a tough old bird, what was seen was truly shocking. Despite the warning in advance from presenter Claire Byrne about upsetting scenes and strong language from the start, young babies being subjected to vulgar language and physical abuse proved distressing in the extreme; so much so that I didnâ€â„¢t persevere with the programme to the bitter end. Iâ€â„¢ve been told itâ€â„¢s wrong to say â€Å“coochie coochie cooâ€Â to babies but, and it shows all I know I suppose, Iâ€â„¢m always doing it. Iâ€â„¢ll lean forward, pull a funny grin, wriggle my fingers in the air in front of the childâ€â„¢s face and in a high-pitched voice, or as high as my old vocal cords can manage, go â€Å“coochie coochie cooâ€Â and it doesnâ€â„¢t seem to do the babies any harm. They smile and gurgle to their heartsâ€â„¢ content and their mammies laugh too. I mention that here not as a way of claiming any great skill with children but because I heard myself saying to myself during the Prime Time programme thereâ€â„¢s not much â€Å“coochie coochie cooâ€Â in those places. To misquote Pete Seeger, Where Have All the Grannies Gone? Long time passing? Packed off to nursing homes every one, When will we ever learn? When will we ever learn? â€Å“Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the manâ€Â has traditionally been attributed to the Jesuits and if thereâ€â„¢s any wisdom at all in that, and Iâ€â„¢m certain there is, what are we being given by some of our crèches? God only knows. â€Â¢ â€Â¢ â€Â¢ MAYBE Iâ€â„¢m reading too much into it but it seems that the success some months back of the BBC period drama The Village has at last provided the BBC with a vehicle to challenge the runaway ITV success that is Downton Abbey. I havenâ€â„¢t heard whether The Village has been given the go-ahead for a second series but the Abbey is reported up and running putting Series 4 together for the autumn. Rumours abound as always but it seems fairly definite that the new series will consist of eight episodes topped off by a Christmas Special as in previous years. I thought the whole Abbey kit and caboodle might spiral downwards in the aftermath of the tragic exit by the gorgeous Matthew, but not a bit of it. As you will recall, just when all seemed rosy in the garden for him and his lovely Lady Mary, he upped and snuffed in a road crash as he was out for a quick skite up to the Abbey by way of celebration at becoming a Dad. It was then feared the series might have been dealt a terminal blow because Matthewâ€â„¢s troubled relationship with Mary had been the lynchpin keeping the whole thing together. It didnâ€â„¢t look good that just when Mary had given birth to a son, her husband and heir to the stately pile had managed to have himself run down by a truck. It was only a soap death of course, occasioned by the desire of an actor to move on to hopefully greener pastures. First it was Sybil and now this, so was the Abbey about to experience a mass exodus? Thankfully no, and new characters are even now being made ready to enter the fray. The Abbey will have its first ever black character with the arrival of jazz singer Jack Ross together with a lengthy list of other newcomers, including opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. The well-known Julian Ovenden has also signed up and Shirley MacLaine will return as somebodyâ€â„¢s formidable American mother. The name escapes me.