The findings of a study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development are sure to throw some fuel on the smoldering fire over day care versus family care.

A much-anticipated report from the largest and longest-running study of American child care has found 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.

The effect was slight, and well within the normal range for healthy children, the researchers found. And as expected, parents’ guidance and their genes had by far the strongest influence on how children behaved.

But the finding held up regardless of the child’s sex or family income, and regardless of the quality of the day care center. With more than two million American preschoolers attending day care, the increased disruptiveness very likely contributes to the load on teachers who must manage large classrooms, the authors argue.

The findings were picked at by people on both sides of the ideological spectrum:

I have accused the study authors of doing everything they could to make this negative finding go away, but they couldn’t do it,” said Sharon Landesman Ramey, director of the Georgetown University Center on Health and Education. “They knew this would be disturbing news for parents, but at some point, if that’s what you’re finding, then you have to report it.”

…

Others experts were quick to question the results. The researchers could not randomly assign children to one kind of care or another; parents chose the kind of care that suited them. That meant there was no control group, so determining cause and effect was not possible. And some said that measures of day care quality left out important things.

The study did not take into account employee turnover, a reality in many day care centers that can have a negative effect on children, said Marci Young, deputy director of the Center for the Child Care Workforce, which represents day care workers. Most employees are “egregiously underpaid and have no benefits,” Ms. Young said, and when they leave for other work, “children experience this as a loss, and that does have an effect on them.”

I didn’t know there was a dramatic shortage of day care workers.  Surely if they are “egregiously underpaid” there must be no one willing to do the work.  Oh hold on, I forgot about basic economics for a second.

At the risk of stepping on toes (I’ve never been accused of avoiding controversy), I’ll wade into the debate.  My initial reaction is, “It took a $200 million study to find this out?”  I could have told them for far less.

My wife and I personally feel that it is in our children’s best interests to be taken care of at home during their early years.  Everyone doesn’t share this view, which is understandable.  I can attest that despite common stereotypes my wife works damn hard and it is a job I probably couldn’t handle.  I can see that it may not suit all people.

One of our big pet peeves is when we hear people tell us that they (both parents) “have to” work.  Look, nearly any family can get by on one income if you’re willing to make sacrifices.  We do it and we could find a way to do it if I made less.  But don’t say that you both “have to” work because you can’t afford for one of you to stay home.  Just be honest and say that you made the choice to work.  I feel that many people use the “have to” argument because it helps alleviate the guilt they feel as a result of their choice.  It can be hard to admit that it is more important to have the material things that you desire than it is to raise your own children.

I’ve also mused as to whether there are any psychological effects on the child.  Does your child subconsciously think, “mommy (or daddy) chose work over me.”

There are pros and cons to either option.  Daycare can be a breeding ground for sickness and the attention each child gets is less than he/she would receive at home.  But, kids at home may be less socialized and it is incumbent on the parent to assume a teaching role.  In the end the debate is something of a secondary one because the most important elements are loving, caring parents and a stable home life.

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This entry was posted by Brian on Tuesday, March 27th, 2007 at 5:09 am and is filed under Social Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.