2023-12-04 03:45:09
CENTRAL EUROPEAN LETTER
Children in the park of Schönbrunn Palace, in Vienna, December 3, 2023. ALEX HALADA / AFP
“The meningococcal vaccine? I recommend it if you send your daughter to daycare very early.
– What do you mean by very early?
– Well… before 2 years. »
This discussion heard from an Austrian pediatrician well sums up the shock of adaptation that a Frenchman must experience when he becomes a father in Vienna. In Austria, despite calls made for years to encourage the professional activity of parents, starting with that of mothers, the priority remains to extend family cocooning as long as possible.
Presenting in September her plan for early childhood worth a total of 4.5 billion euros by 2030, the (Conservative) Minister for Families, Susanne Raab, affirmed that she wanted to concentrate the 50,000 promised places created on children over 1 year old. Only 2% of Austrian children are currently placed in daycare or with a childminder before they are 12 months old, and the minister said she did not really see any demand for this to change. Even beyond that, only 20% of children under 2 have a childcare solution, compared to 58% of French children.
If the official policy is to allow parents to choose when they want to return to work, the whole system, similar to that of Germany, actually encourages people to stay at home. Austria notably offers generous parental leave of 80% of salary until the child is 12 months old, compared to only 428.71 euros per month in France. If the debate is currently growing in France to increase this amount in the face of the glaring lack of places in crèche, a more generous system can also have perverse effects.
Judged as stupid at best, dangerous at worst
In Vienna, finding a place in a crèche or even with a nanny before your child is 12 months old is an obstacle course. We had to contact nearly thirty different institutions to find only three – including a French nursery – who agreed to take our daughter from the age of 8 months, an age negotiated at length following a Franco-Austrian compromise in our relationship. .
Officially, the Vienna town hall funds nurseries on the condition that they accept children from an early age, but, in reality, most refuse to do so, citing their lack of staff or infrastructure. Having your child looked after at 8 months is in any case judged as stupid at best, and dangerous at worst. “It’s not good for you or your child.”took the liberty of asserting the director of a nursery on the telephone.
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