WHAT a sad and shallow image Ms Simpson-Laing has of the role of parenting (Letters, June 22).

While we must applaud any project which helps working mothers, the idea of shunting children into a school day of ten hours seems to me to be an act of barbarity.

At what stage in the day does the child have any contact with the parent - ten minutes in the morning and half an hour at bedtime?

What has happened to the "quality time" once thought so important to the child-parent relationship?

Perhaps Ruth Kelly, herself a career woman, was thinking of the benefits which may accrue to the likes of Ms Simpson-Laing, i.e. having time to study for a degree, work part-time and serve as a councillor without having to concern herself with the bother of child-rearing. A very middle-class concept perhaps.

We should be questioning the need for the provision of out-of-school care. Ruth Kelly, in a recent television interview, said it was to help the working mother who had to go out to work to make ends meet. This is a sad reflection on the pay levels of women.

From recently-published figures of families receiving the working tax credit, it would seem that there is a large underclass of people working for very little pay.

If pay levels were higher, mothers would not have to necessarily work full-time and would be in the happy position of being able to spend time with their children.

I wish Ms Simpson-Laing the best of luck with her university studies; hopefully it will give greater depth to her understanding of society.

Trudie Elliott,

Hopgrove Lane North,

York.

Updated: 10:23 Monday, June 27, 2005