This move has arisen from international evidence demonstrating that the experiences children have in the first years of life impact on their neurobiology which then shapes their development, learning, health and wellbeing throughout their lives.

There is evidence that some of these effects not only have life-long impacts but are transmitted, through epigenetic processes, to the next generation.

Thus there are major benefits to our communities and our society when we ensure that all children have the best possible experiences in their early years.

There are many different ways we can go about making that happen.

If we truly believed that the best possible child-rearing environment was in the home, then we should develop policies and programs that make it possible for parents to stay home with their children. We would offer appropriate family income support measures to enable parents to have the time to be with their children (for longer than a few months – if we think three-year-olds should be in their homes then we have to support their parents to make this possible).

I specifically say parents (ie plural, not parent in the singular) here because there is a lot of evidence that demonstrates the benefits of having more than one person intimately involved in child rearing.

In addition to making it possible for parents to stay at home with their children, we would fund programs that would support parents undertaking their child-rearing role: good community facilities that enable parents and children to meet, interact and support each other, parent education and support programs for example.

Despite public sentiment expressed in some of the responses to the ALP announcement arguing parents should not have children unless they are willing to be with them throughout their early years, we live in a society that does not provide the supports to make this possible.

In reality, parents who do attempt to stay home with their children are often judged negatively, belittled and positioned somehow as of less value.

This negative judgement arises from a belief that it is the obligation of every citizen to be in employment, irrespective of their parental responsibilities.

In order to make this possible we have to develop the kinds of supports necessary to facilitate parental employment. This means we have to consider who is responsible for child rearing when parents are fulfilling their employment obligations.

There are many societies around the world where children are seen as a community resource, and thus the community is responsible for their care not their parents on their own.

Anthropologists talk about alloparenting, the child-caring roles performed by those other than the parents, sometimes related and sometimes not. In our modern western world where we tend not to live together in extended families, we don’t have grandparents, aunties and uncles or others available to provide child care.

The alternative is formal care; care offered through a variety of services such as long-day care, preschool, kindergarten and family day care. The research shows us very clearly that the better the quality of these services the better the outcomes for children attending them.

In addition, there is also strong evidence demonstrating that children whose families are not able to provide the ideal child-rearing environment (through poverty, trauma, health issues, other forms of social, physical and wellbeing disadvantage), children’s attendance at a quality early childhood program can be life-changing; can prevent a lifetime of disadvantage and place children’s feet on a positive developmental trajectory.

In the context of the world we live in today, supporting parents to ensure their children have earlier access to quality early childhood services is essential, not just in supporting parental employment but in creating contexts that ensure all our children have the best opportunities to grow up strong, healthy, capable and able to contribute to our world.

Read more Family Matters:

Building closer ties with your children

Learning skills of friendship

The world needs more critical thinkers like Harper Neilsen