Daycare

Day care is a controversial topic; some people think it is good for their children, while others feel it isn’t. Although scientists have been researching the effects of day care on children’s development for years, they have never found one conclusive answer on whether or not day care will be beneficial or detrimental. It varies greatly on the child’s personality and background says most scientists. Day care is a form of childcare outside a child’s natural environment. This form of childcare allows the children to spend nights at home, but they spend a whole or half day under the care of someone outside the family. (Eysenck and Flanagan) Parents and guardians still wonder whether the positive effects of day care out weigh the negative, or if the negative effects of day care out weight the positive. As scientists compare the effects of day care on a child’s development, they usually compare the positive and negative effects of social development, as well as the positive and negative development of cognitive effects. The cognitive development of a child reflects the child’s mental abilities, such as memory, language, and mathematical and reading scores. The social development of children are the changes in a child’s social behaviour, it is the relationships one holds with friends, and family in addition too, the ability to negotiate with others, and the child’s personality. It is hard to draw a conclusion whether day care has more positive or negative effects on a child’s development, because the child’s background, personality, and social economic class can also change the variability of how day care will influence a child’s needs.

A child placed in day care can have better or worse cognitive development. Cognitive development is the growth of academic abilities. (Cardwell, Clark and Meldrum,) This has a lot to do with the way a child was raised, the background/ family life of the child, and the quality of the day care the child is put into. Several factors would lead scientists to believe that the disruption of attachment bonds may cause problems in children’s cognitive development. Based on Bowlby’s theory of attachment, children need to develop bonds with the primary care giver, to develop further both in social and cognitive aspects. This theory does not necessarily stand for children with strong or outgoing personalities; it is more accurate for children with passive personalities. Outgoing children explore their environment more, and become more comfortable in it, helping them to become more stimulated, and develop more cognitive abilities; stimulation is very important in the cognitive development of children. (Cardwell, Clark and Meldrum) In 1987, Greengough conducted an experiment with rats. He separated two groups of rats; one group was placed in a rich, stimulating environment; the other group was placed in a low stimulated dilapidated envorment. The rats that had been placed in the enriched environment actually had larger brains, with more neurons, and stronger connections. In 1980 a similar experiment was conducted with children. Bryant had observed a day care and realized that quiet behaviour was rewarded. Rewarding quiet behaviour is encouraging passivity and encouraging under stimulation. If day cares are teaching, or encouraging children to be passive, it is taking away from their stimulation. Without the stimulation, children are not motivated to learn or explore their environments. It is the stimulation at a young age, before the critical period, makes the neuron connections for children to do better in school, and develop essential language skills. Research does show, children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, may actually be more stimulated in a day care than at home. When comparing the two experiments you can tell that whether day care is a good or bad thing for the child simply depends on which environment is more stimulating. Between 1957 and 1995 Russell performed about 100 studies that all concluded, overall the effects of day care were negative rather than positive. Although he conducted his experiments correctly, the information is no longer completely accurate. The quality of day care has probably improved; therefore the experiment results have most likely changed. Research in 1990 showed that children in day care, or day care like environments had lower math and reading scores on IQ tests. Although some studies show that day care can have a positive effect on a child’s cognitive development. The quality of day care has a huge effect on whether or not the child is provided with adequate stimulation. Children in high quality day care, who receive high amounts of stimulation, actually receive higher reading and math scores on their IQ tests. Sweden is known for their high quality day cares; an experiment on children in Sweden showed those who began day care before the age of 1 had much higher IQ scores than those children who did not have any day care. Ruhm conducted an experiment to determine whether children in day care were stimulated; he saw that children in school who attended day care were less willing to explore. He fees this is due to the lack of stimulation children the received while attending day care. (Eysenck and Flanagan) Whether or not a child is put in day care will have a lot of effect on the child’s cognitive development. Day care will not necessarily have a positive or negative effect on their development. One can’t generalize whether or not day care will be good for all children; it depends on the child’s home situation, personality, and the quality of day care.

Day care also has effects on a child’s development socially. Whether a child will fully develop socially during day care has many variables. Day care can have both positive and negative effects on a child’s social development. Some positive social effects day care can have on a child is the ability to negotiate, while in day care children learn negotiation skills, from being with other children, these are skills that the child would not learn as much at home. (Eysenck and Flanagan) Day care will disrupt this bond and the child may then have a sense of need for attention. This need may cause disruptive, and even violent behaviour in a child. (Cardwell, Clark and Meldrum) A study in 2001 showed that children who spent more than 10 hours per week in day care were more aggressive in school and at home than those who did not attended day care. This is due to the loss of attachment a child faces, when the child loses his or her attachment; they don’t have a respectable figure. Another negative effect of day care is that the teachers reward quiet behaviour; therefore children are rewarded for passivity. In experiments it has been shown that children in day care also deal with social situations when they begin school better than those who did not attend any day care but no evidence shows that they are more popular, or more sociable. (Eysenck and Flanagan) Children in day care also have a lower delinquency rate than those who did not attend day care. Children attending day care can either have conditions that will be benefital or detrimental to a child’s social development. Depending on the child’s personality they may grow from day care, although it is not the same for all children.

A child’s personality, in addition to many other variables seems to have an effect on whether or not putting a childcare will help their development. Development in both social and cognitive forms are effected in the hands of day care, the question is, “is day care the healthy option?” There is not one right answer to whether or not day care is healthy for children; day care has both positive and negative effects on the development (social or cognitive) of a child. Whether a child will benefit or not from day care is based on the quality of the day care, the parent’s economic class, and the conditions the child faces at home. Each of these variables can determine whether day care will be detrimental or beneficial. Sometimes a family may know that day care is not the best option for them, but they don’t always have the option, both parent may have to work and can’t get a close family member to look after their child.

Sources
Caldwell, Clark, and Meldrum. "Psychology for AS Level." London: Collins

Educational, 2004. "Attachments in Development." Developmental Social Psychology. London, 2000.

Gosche, Mary. "The Benefits of Quality Child Care." Missouri Families. 12 Apr. 2005.

. "Systematic Reviews of the Effectiveness of Day Care for People with Severe Mental Disorders." PubMed. 8 Dec. 2006

Toroyan, Tami. "Effectiveness of Out-of-Home Day Care for Disadvantaged Families: Randomised Controlled Trial." BMJ. 10 Oct. 2003. 8 Dec. 2006 .