Expanding night-time caregiving services for children from lower-income families is indeed a practical move to support families struggling with financial needs (Rise in demand for night-time childcare, Jan 31).

However, I have some reservations about such a service. We should guard against families that might take advantage of the service and simply drop off their children, aged six to 14, out of convenience.

They could be working on their parenting skills to build a constructive relationship with their children instead.

It is important that the childcare arrangement is a mutual agreement between parent and child.

Will the child feel a sense of abandonment or think that he is a burden to his parents?

Children already spend long hours at schools or childcare centres; my concern is the trend of "outsourcing" children.

That is, parents outsourcing children to digital screens by occupying them with "educational" applications, for example, instead of physically reading to their children.

There is also outsourcing of children to the care of maids, and now subjecting children to more institutional care time, in addition to their regular hours in childcare or schools.

Which means a child can be under institutional care from 7am to 10pm, Monday to Friday.

What is the impact on these children's learning and development, or even life outcomes?

What will be the possible cumulative and delayed consequences, in particular, the social values a child might pick up from his friends in a communal setting, instead of the core values from his parents?

At the age of six to 14, children are still vulnerable to peer influence, wanting to feel like they belong and are accepted; they may compromise on their family values.

Over time, parents' and children's expectations and perspectives may increasingly differ, widening the divide in parent-child relationships. Consequently, the children may find communicating with their parents a problem.

Every decision made as parents has consequences and trade-offs.

Thus, parents need to ask themselves - is it in the best interest of my child?

Rebecca Chan (Dr)