You are, as others have said, entitled to your views etheltbags1 but again like others, I don't generally agree.
I am regarding childcare as being to allow the parents to work. Where a parent with a two year old may not be able to afford if there wasn't free childcare. If they are not working the parents should look after their own kids.
So what about sick parents, parents who have just been made redundant, parents looking to return to work, parents unable to completely fulfil the needs of a child but aware that childcare may help.
It is a proven fact that under 3yrs they don't socialise with other children, they just play in the same area ...
Again nothing is so black and white. Even if the majority of children "just play in the same area" they will not start to socialise the day after they are three. They will be learning these skills, occasionally putting them into practice, etc. All the things they learn from three onwards will be based on what they have learned previously. They are not just learning how to interact with other children but how to listen, how to respond to other adults, how to work in a group, etc.
I think judging whether other people should have the benefit of childcare is quite invidious as, whatever the mother says, you have no idea of her circumstances. Perhaps the only real answer is to take all the allowances away from parents and use them to provide wrap around care for children, from breakfast to evening meal, with childcare from day one and pre and after school care (even weekends?) for everyone who wants and needs to take advantage of it. Generally the self-selection of these services will be on the grounds of need and it would mean the money went straight into the care of the children.