I won’t let my children work…

During the lunch break, I return home to cook and feed my children. When I am not around, many a time they spend time in neighbouring houses to watch television or stay in their uncle’s place. I work for nearly 12 hours to make my family ends meet. I can hardly attend to them properly, most of the time they remain sick. I will not allow my child to work as a rag picker like me. I'll send them to school. I'll not put family responsibilities on their shoulders."

Children’s health suffers immensely when they do not receive appropriate care in time. Mothers, fearing wage cuts or loss of jobs in the unorganised sector that does not follow any norms or standards of employment, are often unable to take leave for taking their unwell children to the government hospital for treatment. Instead, they prefer to take the child to quacks or private clinic hospitals – options that are less time-consuming but poor in quality and high in cost. About 90 per cent of mothers share that most of their out-of-pocket expenditure was on health and treatment, followed by the nutrition of their children.

#ecd #earlychildhooddevelopment #earlylearning #health #nutrition #careandprotection #children