Child care is designed for the convenience of adults, not the development of children......

      I came across this article in today's (April 10, 2007)  newspaper, one of the many that I thumb through. Found the article to be an interesting one with reference to the development of children attending day care.  When day care services was first beginning to spring up across the country way back when I was not exactly pleased with them.
     All these many years later, I am still of the same opinion, yet I do understand why the need for them is there. I will not preach how it is easy because I have passed up and lost many positions until my children were of school age. Yet, I would do it all over again, not to place them in day care.
      "The study found that child care quality had no effect of the negative outcomes. Children in higher quality centers had the same level of behavior problems as those from lower quality programs. But for the most part, even good child care is designed more for the convenience of adults than the development of children."
     "Infants and young children are naturally egocentric. They need the focused attention of adults who care deeply about them in order to develop a sense of trust and the ability to maintain healthy relationships throughout life. If this were not the case, human mothers would normally give birth to a half dozen babies at a time and those babies would become self sufficient quickly, rather than the natural slow progression of our species."
       Having visited a few day care centers myself, I was able to evaluate behavior first hand. What I found, for the most part was two, sometimes three people who would be in charge of twenty or thirty children at a time. Usually one adult and two teenage children to extend nurturing and yes, love to so many young children.
      In a family situation you have one or sometimes two adults (mother and father) and the remainder are their children, but all family in one home. Depending on how many children there are, usually a chain of command of sorts is instilled into the children from the oldest down to the youngest.
     It becomes a daily routine learned at a very young age that each valuable family member must perform his or her household chores, whatever they may be. Nothing very elaborate, just a little something to help instill family values in the children, a sense of equality and belonging.
     This is what you cannot get from a day care center. When children are very young they demand your undivided attention, that is just the way it is. You know, see me?  hear me? play with me?  How many of you have heard that little phrase famous among children? Mommy look at me?  Daddy look at me?
     There is just no time for this in a day care and so the most vulnerabel usually are on the loosing end.
     "The standard child care practice is to move children to a new classroom with a new caregiver each year. For a child, this is the equivalent of moving to a new house and getting new parents and siblings every year. Couple this with the average teacher turnover in child care centers of thirty percent, and we find that children have seventeen different primary caregivers before they begin school."
     You see, this can only create instability in children, which is the exact opposite of what we as parents are searching for. They learn very early on not to become close to anyone for fear they will one day be separated. Think about it!