I was recently reading an article about the correlation between time spent in child care, or time spent in the care of anyone beside the mother, and behavior problems later in life. I know most children are exposed to some sort of child care at some point in there life whether it be pre-school type programs, day care, or just being cared for by another family member but according to this study, claiming to be the largest study of its kind, the more time spent in child care the more likely a child 6th grade teacher would be to report behavior problems. However this study also said the more "quality" child care one received before kindegarden the higher their 5th grade vocabulary scores were and the opposite should they have received "poor" child care. I'm curious what the researchers definitions for quality and poor were.
Also they studied characteristics of the children after child care in 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade to see which characteristics persisted. While the only characteristic mentioned was the development of vocabulary as it was the only one that remained apparent through the passing of time, I am also curious to know which others were studied.
The researchers concluded that it was the combination of child care and parental care or home environment that really effected behavior and language acquistion later on in life. Researchers also noted they felt it was the lack of proper training and attention on behavior in the primary classroom as most time is spent on academics.
I am not quite sure what to think of this as most of it seems like common sense and I am sure a large amount of money was put into this study. I also am not sure how I feel about the correlation between behavior problems and attending child care before starting primary school. Any thoughts?
I actually wrote a research paper on this very topic. It's kind of common sense like you said. Children that are pretty much raised in child care have many more behavior problems because of the ratio of adults to children. They aren't taken care of individually and they essentially learn everything from their peers which is usually not good. In addition, kids are mean. There was a lady i babysit for who's child got bitten at childcare about 3 or 4 times before she found out... It's kind of ridiculous. So my suggestion was to either raise your children at home, or in the home of someone you trust.
While I definitely think some parents today abuse child care opportunities, I think I benefited greatly from attending pre-school/day care for two years before starting primary school. But as you said, "pretty much raised in child care" seems to be the problem.
This study states that children who spend the most time in out of home child care, prior to enrollment in elementary school, have the highest rate of behavior problems later in life. From this one may mistakenly assume that increased use of out of home child care is having an overall negative effect on children and subsequent adolescents, particularly in relation to behavior. While I am not well versed on the complete nature of the study, it appears that it does not take into account the nature or quality of the care which these children are receiving. It is troubling to hear it postulated that child care is inherently the problem, because this directs attention away from the flaws of the child care system. Out of home child care is essential during the early years of life. Children's minds most be molded by experiences outside of the home and away from inherent biases and prejudices of their parents.
What this study does prove is that not enough federal and state dollars are being spent on early childhood education. Teachers are overworked; classes are overfilled; and students consequently receive less than adequate care and education.
Why are tax dollars not being spent on such this important area of developmental education? When you consider the types or classes or people who are in most need of child care you realize that underfunding of early childhood care and education is keeping the economic low classes, especially minorities, in a system of perpetual subordination.
This study showed that inadequate childhood care causes behavioral problems later on in the child's education. These problems most often manifest themselves in the forms of violence and learning handicaps. These children, neglected from the earliest years because of parental responsibilities of employment most devastatingly felt by the lower classes, are then cast out of the education system because of the problems that inadequacy in early childhood education created. Their subsequent lack of education leads to increased struggles as parents, later in life, that cause the need for child care, and the perpetuation of this defective system.
If you compare this plight to the situation of those members of society who are without difficult financial constraints, you will see that no similarities are discernible. Children of these well to do origins get exceptional care from mothers or fathers who, because of financial security, have the ability to nurture the child much longer in the home setting, putting these children educationally and developmentally ahead. To increase the gap, these children are then further supplied with superior early age child care in private schools and day care institutions, that are better equipped to adequately care for each child.
You can easily see how the class gap with be perpetually maintained.
Solutions however are not to far out of reach. The resources available to state and federal administrations are more than adequate to facilitate the creation of suitable early child care centers. These facilities should be made more readily available to minorities and those in the poor economic conditions at little or no cost. Through this early childhood education the plague of violence and the lack of education can be eradicated from low income and minority communities.
Take this rather plain and common sense study as an indication that changes in the very system that is here mistakenly blamed need to be made.