Conclusion

After examining information on the effects that daycare centers have on children combined with my research on daycare costs and safety, I have concluded that the need for care, and the cost of care, truly dictate what daycare option a family will choose. I also found that daycares pose little risk to kids and may help them develop social and communication skills, if the centers are chosen and monitored with the upmost care. Quality homecare can be provided by an immediate family member such as mom, dad, or grandparents at an enormous cost savings. However the quality of the parenting and family structure have a direct impact on the children’s development. When homecare is not an option the amount of money one has to spend on care becomes the deciding factor.  We all want what is best for our children; we will spend what we can to make sure they receive quality care. Not always but most of the time, you get what you pay for and this is absolutely true for childcare.

I am going to continue researching more of the financial aspects of childcare. I want to know more about why the cost for care in Colorado are so high compared to the rest of the country, I am also interested in looking at the differences between for profit centers and not for profit centers and what type of financial assistance may be available.

One aspect of childcare that I did not look at is how it affects the parent. Watching multiple kids, fulltime, can be very stressing for stay at home parents. Is it better for the wellbeing of both the parent and the child if the kids go to daycare at least a little? Is this why some stay at home parents still send their kids to daycare?

I think that I would like to argue for high quality public preschools/daycares for all kids in the country age 6 months and older that want it.

Sincerely,

Jason

Childcare Safety

Hello again,

Thank you for the comments. After reading them it is easy to see that everyone has a different situation when it comes to childcare. Each family must take into consideration what is best for them and actually practical.

 The fact is I need to get back to work to be able to support my family financially so childcare is a must. Doing my research I kept seeing stories about bad things happening at daycares. It makes me fear that something bad could happen to my children if I send them off. Do I really need to be concerned? Are childcare centers safe? I found the article “How to keep the kids safe, in day care or with a Saturday-night sitter” on CNN.com that was written by Diana Burrell and originally appeared on Parenting.com on September 29, 2006 that made me feel a little better. The article was basically telling parents how to be smart. You need to look at things such as correct licensing, security, what type of background checks have been done on employees. What the author plainly points out is that good judgment, research, and common sense go a long way. Bad things can and may happen but you cannot lock up your kids in anticipation of it. Instead it is better to be thorough and investigative when deciding on childcare so as to try and minimize or eliminate said risks.

The article also left me wondering about the actual security of the kids. Many daycare centers are secure buildings/campuses that have things such as finger print scanners to get in and out and video surveillance. How can home based childcare ensure the security of the children? Do more bad things like child abductions, physical, mental, and sexual abuse happen in homecare or daycare? Is the level of security the cause?

This is another link to a “Child Care: Day Care Safety Checklist” on Parents.com

I was able to find an a study done by The US Consumer Product Safety Commission titled “Safety Hazards in Child Care Settings” That goes into detail about the safety risks associated with childcare. These risks include “cribs, soft bedding, playground surfacing, playground surfacing maintenance, child safety gates, window blind cords, drawstrings in children's clothing, and recalled children's products” The report then gives some frightening statistics, “About 31,000 children, 4 years old and younger, were treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms for injuries at child care/school settings in 1997. CPSC is aware of at least 56 children who have died in child care settings since 1990.” The study also found that two thirds of the providers they looked had at least one violation. Looking at the results closer though I began to see that many of these situations can be avoided or at least limited just by following the advice from the previous article I wrote about. Some of the other injuries and problems listed may have been preventable but a lot seem like accidents.

Where DaycareDangers Lurk:

• CRIBS: 8% of the child care settings had cribs that did not meet current safety standards.
  Older cribs can present many dangers to children, including strangulation and suffocation.
• SOFT BEDDING: 19% of the child care settings had cribs containing soft bedding.
  Soft bedding may present a suffocation hazard for infants.
• PLAYGROUND SURFACING: 24% of the child care settings did not have safe playground surfacing.
• PLAYGROUND MAINTENANCE: 27% of the child care settings did not keep the playground surfacing well-maintained.
  Young children can be seriously hurt from falls on playgrounds.
• CHILD SAFETY GATES: 13% of the child care settings did not use child safety gates where necessary.
  Child safety gates can protect children from hazards, especially falls down stairs.
• WINDOW BLIND CORDS: 26% of the child care settings had loops on the window blind cords.
  About one child a month strangles in the loops of window blind cords.
• CLOTHING WITH DRAWSTRINGS: 38% of the child care settings had children wearing clothing with drawstrings at the neck.
  Drawstrings on clothing can catch on objects and strangle a child.
• RECALLED PRODUCTS: 5% of the child care settings had products that had been recalled by CPSC.
  Using recalled nursery products and toys can be a hazard to young children.

Chart is from Intellicorp Intouch and shows

the results of the CPSC study from above.

 

Although I agree with both the article about how to keep kids safe and the CPSC study, they do not show any statistics for the safety of stay at home childcare. Are kids safer in a home with a parent or in a daycare? Do stay at home parents know of all of the dangers children face around the home like a trained daycare provider should? How many kids can one parent handle safely? Do more expensive daycares have fewer safety and security problems. I think that the idea of safety needs to be looked at in two ways 1) Safety: will the kids get hurt, and 2) Security: how are they protected.



I am now left wondering is my concern for the wellbeing of my kids or am I just having a hard time dealing with the fact that I need to work and will not be able take care of them as I have been? Why do stay at home parents send their kids to daycare?

Hello,

Thank you for the responses to my last couple of posts. I enjoyed reading your ideas and have been thinking about the questions you posed.

Since my last blog post, I have been looking over a ton of information on childcare searching for the effects that parental childcare has on kids. The information that I found seems very logical and not at all surprising. It all depends on the parent. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) “Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development” found that “parent and family characteristics were more strongly linked to child development than were child care features.” It seems that the quality of care is more important than who provides the care. If I sit my kids in front of the TV, all day, every day, instead of actually parenting, wouldn’t they be better off in a daycare. The level of parenting directly correlates to the level of success the child will have in the future. When you sending your kids to daycare how can you ensure they are getting quality care? 

During my research on the effects of childcare, I came across some interesting information on the cost of it. Cost is an important part of the equation and can be the determining factor weather or not your child goes to day care. The graph below from Qualistar Colorado, a Colorado childcare advocacy group shows costs of different types of care.

 

The graph shows the cost of daycare centers and paid in home daycare in both rural and urban areas of Colorado. This clearly shows that the cost of an actual daycare center is far higher than in home care and that as children get older the cost of care decreases.. The graph also shows that both options cost more in an urban area. These costs depend on such factors as where you live, type of childcare, child’s age, how many hours of care, for profit or not. After examining this graph, I wonder why urban daycare is more expensive than rural daycare. Do rural daycares provide better care and if so why? Does the cost of daycare correlate with the quality of daycare?

 

Child Costs Calculator

 

Find out how much you're likely to spend to raise your child. (provided by babycenter.com)
 

The article “ColoradoChild-care Costs High” published on the Dneverpost.com by Allison Sherry references the report “Kids Count in Colorado” published by the Colorado Children’s Campaign that says Colorado “is the third-highest for child-care costs for 4-year-olds and ranks eighth for infant day care, at $905 a month”

Using $905 a month as a reference point, I will need to make around $12.00 an hour just to send my two children to school full time. That means if I am making $24.00 an hour half of my pay will go to childcare and these rough calculations do not include taxes.

Does cost of care dictate quality of care? So can I find an affordable place to send my children to that will still provide quality care?  Are for profit centers any better or worse than not for profit centers? These are questions that that the articles have made me think about. I agree that the quality of care is important as the NICHD study points out, I am just worried that quality may relate to cost. One thing that I am starting to believe to be true about childcare is that it is a very individualized decision for each family and many variables go into that decision.

Until next time,

Jason

Childcare effects

Hello,

Picture from Google Images "Daycare Stress"

In my last blog post, I started exploring if it is better to send a young child to daycare/preschool or if it is better to have a parent provide care and why. Since that time, I have been thinking about this question and thought about changing it to include the range of childcare options but decided against it. I came to this conclusion based on the simple fact that my children only have two choices, parental care or daycare and daycare may not even be an option if I we cannot afford it.

I decided the best place to start my investigation was to see if I could find any information on the effects that different kinds of childcare have on young children. After all, it is the wellbeing of my children that I am most interested in. I turned to the Internet and found a very interesting article that was published March 26, 2007 in The New York Times titled “Poor Behavior Is Linked to Time in Day Care” In it, the author, Benedict Carey looked at a study done by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development titled “Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development” that concluded that “keeping a preschooler in a day care center for a year or more increased the likelihood that the child would become disruptive in class — and that the effect persisted through the sixth grade.” When I read this, I became concerned. If I send my kids to daycare are they going be out of control with behavioral problems? After reading the entire article my worries began to subside a bit. It seems daycare only increases the risk of becoming disruptive by 1%. The article also points out that children that go to daycare have a better vocabulary, and are more likely to be prepared for a structured setting. This makes me wonder if a 1% chance that my child may become a little disruptive in class later is worth worrying about if he is going to be better prepared academically. Do the pros of daycare offset the cons of daycare? This article also does not begin to look at how home care affects the child. As I continued to research, I found a similar article that was published March 26, 2007 in Time Magazine by Lisa Cullen titled "Daycare Is a) Good, b) Bad, c) Necessary." This article echoed the article by Carey.

 I continued my research on the Internet and found another more recent article on the CBS News website from February 11, 2009. The article titled “The Negative Effects of Childcare” by Rome Neal looks at two follow up studies to the earlier NICH&HD study. These two studies one of which was done by the NICH&HD back up what the earlier report stated that “the longer a child spends in child care, the more stress they may experience, and that could lead to the young to become aggressive and disobedient.” However once again the percentage of risk was very small and the author like I questions weather this increased risk is a problem and how can they really tell that daycare is the problem. Maybe these kids are already predisposed to have problems. It may be genes, parenting, health, who can really say. After reading the article I wonder if it would be good for kids to go to daycare part time? Would having multiple care providers be good for a child?

 

Picture from Google Images

So far my research has pointed out that daycare might increase the chance of behavioral problems slightly but it really has not been proven to me that this is a big cause for concern. Both articles point directly to a slight increase in behavior problems related to daycare but they do not convince me that it is a problem worth worrying about. I tend to side with the author Rome Neal and his views that the results of the study show only a small increase in problems related with daycare and it is hard to get accurate data because other factors such as genetic makeup and family stability that play a much larger role in behavior.

 What doing research did bring to my attention the number of daycares that are in the news for negative reasons .Are daycare centers safe and secure?  I think it is important to look into the safety of daycare providers, includling homecare. I also need to find research that looks at the effects of home care on a youngster.

Other questions that I have begun to wonder about include: Do stay at home children get enough social interaction? Does it matter who watches the child at home, mom, dad, grandparent, nanny?

I will continue looking into these questions and as always your opinion is appreciated.

Sincerely,

Jason

Childcare

Childcare

 

I am wondering about childcare. More specifically I want to know if it is better for children to be raised at home by a parent or if it is better for them to attend some type of daycare/preschool?

I have been a stay at home dad for the last two years and a full time student. I began watching my son Andrew full time when he was about one and a half years old. After about a year of this my wife and I decided we should put him in daycare to let him learn social skills and to give me some time to get things done. Six months ago we had our second child Adam. My wife was able to stay home with him for about a month after his birth and I have been watching him for the last five months along with watching Andrew 3 days a week.

I will complete my studies in December and will then be looking for employment. When I get a job both kids will need to be in daycare/preschool five days a week. Is this good or bad for them? What, if any, are the effects of attending daycare/preschool vs. being raised at home by a parent?

One of the reasons we only send Andrew to school two days a week is that we really cannot afford to send him any more than that. Childcare is expensive. For me to be able send both of our children to daycare/preschool full time I need to have a well-paying job or it is not worth it to send them, or is it?

I am sure there is a ton of information out there on this subject. This is a question that most parents have at some point and I am sure you can get an opinion from each and everyone one of them on the subject. I am sure that you can find research papers on the subject and doctors will always give you there opinion. I simple Google search for the term "home care or daycare" brings up 7,860,000 results. These hits are from well known sources such as the The New York Times and completely unknown sources. Everyone has an opinion.

Knowing that I may no longer take care of my children on daily basis has ultimately led me to the question is this best for them. I think the answer to that question is an individual one for each family and depends on factors. As a parent who only wants the best for my children, I will now explore the childcare so that I can make the best decision for my family that I can.

Please let me know what your thoughts are on child care. I would love to hear personal stories about your own experiences.

Sincerely,

Jason

Test Post

I did it! My blog has been created. I am thinking of blogging about BIM Building Information Management as it relates to the architecture, engineering, and construction industries.

Until My next post,
Jason