BBC irony on childcare

BBC News excelled itself this morning and provided us with a good laugh.

In the first article we were told how spoilt children are disrupting schools. To accompany the story we were given lots of pictures of children pestering parents in toy shops. The online version is here:

Primary schoolchildren spoilt by their parents can cause disruption in the classroom by repeating manipulative behaviour used at home, a report says.

Maybe more on this one later

In the next story we are told that parents are having trouble meeting the costs of childcare during school holidays. Again the online version is here:

A leading childcare charity is urging the government to force schools to make term times more co-ordinated.
With this Easter falling so early, different schools' holidays span a four-week period.

The Daycare Trust said the system was costing parents whose children have different Easter holiday times hundreds of pounds extra in childcare costs.

We then had pictures of an obviously middle class mum who is struggling because her children have different holidays and she was having to cope with the extended period. We were obviously supposed to pity her and then without a trace of irony we are told that two of here children are at private school!

FFS, having children is a big decision and requires sacrifices by the parents not be the rest of us. I accept that as a society it is best we pool resources to pay for education and that we do need a constant stream of doctors, nurses, electricians etc, to maintain us in our dotage, but that is far enough. I don't see why I should pay more taxes to parents that a) spoil their children because they are on a guilt trip or B) want to send their kids to private schools without sacrifice.

No doubt some soft headed politician or social commentator like Polly will take up their cause and demand that we be given even less pocket money from our munificent governement.