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