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Give Your Family Peace of Mind this Holiday Season
Some of our PLASP Before and After School programs still have space available for the 2015/2016 school year.
In 1982, an article in The Brampton Guardian featured the headline, “Peel Program Gives Parents Peace of Mind”. The article, pictured here and now part of the PLASP archives, addressed the growing need by parents to have a safe and affordable child care alternative for children before and after school.
In the article, CEO at the time Sylvia Leal said, “I have a great concern for the large number of children left unsupervised. Many of them are under the age of 10, are left at home to see themselves out to school.”
Children going home alone after school while their parents are at work were known then as latch-key children. According to the NYU Child Study Center, “it was during the second World War that latch key children came to the country’s attention. Fathers had gone off to war, and mothers had gone into industry, making the tanks, planes, uniforms and bullets the soldiers needed. The children went home with keys on chains, ribbons, a piece of string tied around their necks."
In their 1984 article, The Guardian addressed the issue of latch-key children. According to the publication Canada's Children: A Fact Sheet of Social Indicators, “when considering the care of older children, the number of latchkey children in Canada is a growing concern. 1988, 23% of children aged 6-12 years spent at least some time alone or with a sibling under age 13. Self-care or care by a sibling was the primary care arrangement for 7% of children aged 6 to 9 and 21% of children aged 10 to 12.”
Latch-key children existed then, and they still exist now. The NYU Child Study Center notes that, “one third of all school age children in the United States are, for some part of the week, latch key kids. The total number may be between five and seven million children between five and 13 years old. Marian Wright Edelman, the director of the Children’s Defence Fund thinks it’s close to 16 million children.”
For 40 years, PLASP has been a much needed solution for parents who need before and after school care for their children.
The NYU Child Study Center provides a compelling argument that supports the need for before and after school programming. According to their study, the following has been observed:
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51% of latch-key children are doing poorly in school
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Most teachers believe that being alone at home is the number one cause of school failure.
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The afternoon hours are the peak time for juvenile crime.
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Unsupervised children are more likely to become depressed, smoke cigarettes and marijuana, drink alcohol and engage in sexual activity.
All of this can be avoided, NYU indicates, by finding an alternate to latch-key arrangements: “In many communities there are activities for school age children whose parents work and cannot be at home in the afternoon…These programs can vary in cost or are free, depending upon the particular activity and the age of the child. All of them offer the opportunity to acquire skills and knowledge that are useful throughout life. Children who are not learning anything for hours every week are at a distinct disadvantage compared to children who are engaged in enriching activities.”
T. Berry Brazelton of Harvard University, author and paediatrician, suggests that “during these all important bridge years between childhood and adulthood, kids really do need something constructive to do, and they also still need to have their activities supervised. Most of all, they need to know that their parents care about them, are involved in their lives and have their best interests at heart.”
PLASP believes that every child deserves a safe, warm and caring environment (a place where children want to be), in which to grow and develop to their maximum potential. We are committed to fostering each child's self‑esteem and feeling of self‑worth and value through positive care giving, and stimulating activities that will promote their emotional, physical, social and intellectual growth and development. You can read more about our philosophy here.
Some of our PLASP Before and After School programs still have space available for the 2015/2016 school year. Use our Search for Care function to see if your school currently has space available.
PLASP Child Care Services