Parent Power: The definitive guide to Britain's top 2,000 independent and state schools

Ed Balls, our Children's Secretary, yesterday announced that two-year- olds will start in state-funded education. Two-year-olds at school! Doesn't Mr Balls know that they're far too old for that?

It took a whistle-stop tour of three local nurseries for me to realise that the efforts in the Government's new Children's Plan to close the gap between rich and poor toddler attainment are doomed to fail. As we dashed from one to the other, looking frantically for a place for our two-year-old, I couldn't help but dwell on Mr Balls's approach. He is not, as all the detractors say, starting too early, but too late.

Nursery A was a private Montessori nursery. As I thought “Montessori” was a codeword for “nice teachers in transparent skirts, like the young Lady Diana”, I was in for a shock. The Montessori method began to help the scores of poor street kids in Rome. It is hard work.

Montessori children operate like industrious Santa's elves, tiny factory staff calmly moving through their tasks. I watched a knee-height girl fastidiously unpack a stone-polishing kit, polish the stones, repack them, and begin again. It was eerie. They all brushed their teeth after lunch.

Next stop was community-run Nursery B, which we found empty. Everyone was in the garden, because, here, every day was like Glastonbury. Festooned trees, teepees and babies rolling in what looked like a paddling pool full of sick, but on closer sight was a mix of yoghurt and muesli.

And finally, came state-run Nursery C, whose head began her complaints about funding and staff turnover as we were buzzed in. Starved of adult attention, crawlers clustered around my ankles. When it was time to go, I looked back at so many tiny expectant faces, and felt like when I had to leave the dog pound. Could I sneak a few home in my bag? “I can't rescue you all,” I muttered guiltily, and left.

Surely such three entirely different approaches were bound to have a profound effect on our daughter? That is, after all, the message of Mr Balls, that nurseries can rescue a child. Well, no, not at all.

The 40-year-old Head Start programme in America educates nearly one million of the poorest toddlers in nurseries in an attempt to close their achievement gap. Trouble is, most of their improvement fades after a few years at primary school. This is because study after study has shown that the most crucial time for a child is in its first year. And, earlier, in the womb. Or, in fact, earlier, at the moment of conception, or, most importantly, before. It barely matters what a nursery does compared with what a parent is. By two, it's too late.

If Mr Balls really wants to help poor children, he needs to be both scientific and bold about it. He must help their parents, just as or before they become parents. Best of all (if this is not getting too circular) when they are still children themselves.

Times Recommends

• Navigating the new global archipelago
• Comment: McCain isn't Bush and voters know it
• Religion's history of self-inflicted pain