Do babysitters need to qualified?

Stuff reports:

Ms Bennett said formal early childcare education was not always the best way for children to be looked after.

“I agree that we need more childcare centres in the right place so that we are particularly giving access to those that don’t have it now.” In some smaller communities, centres were not viable, she said.

“We just constantly have this, that only fully qualified people can look after children and it’s not the reality of what happens for families on a day-to-day basis.

“Parents aren’t always fully qualified, neither are grandparents.”

The Government was still grappling with how it could help fund more informal childcare, Ms Bennett said.

Labour social development spokeswoman Jacinda Ardern said unqualified, unvetted babysitters were not the answer and not in the best interests of the children.

This insistence that all early childhood care must be done by qualified practitioners makes me wonder how previous generations coped.