Dennis Cummins: Article Analysis

As of 2012, 61% of children in the United States have a structured and regular childcare arrangement. From research done, kids who attended preschool are less likely to need government assistance, drop out of high school, and commit a felony (Why All Kids Should Go to Preschool). Kids who do go to preschool are more likely to go to college and own their own homes. In fact, preschool enrollment is highest in children with mothers with bachelor’s degrees or higher.

What seemed to have sparked interest in this topic were the inconsistent findings on the issue of social outcomes. Although it has been found that children who attended childcare programs appeared to be more socially competent than home-reared peers, displays of aggression and resistance to adult requests were also described among childcare children (Haskins et al., 1985, as cited in Phillips et al., 1987). Phillips, McCartney and Scarr (1987) believed that these contradictory findings differed due to the quality of the childcare programs.

Sending children to day care can have short term and long term effects on a child’s

Childcare or “daycare” is one of the most commonly used resources among Americans in the United States. There are many options for childcare that parents could choose from. They have many choices for childcare, ranging from: in-home care, childcare facilities, after school or government-funded Head Start programs. . “Head Start is a federally funded governmental program with the explicit goal of preparing underprivileged children for primary education” (Conley). This program is another option for the pre-k program. The cost of childcare has risen dramatically over the past year, and no one really knows whom to blame for it. The government offers families subsidies for childcare, but that is only if your income is low. But, what about the

55% of American mothers now return to work by the time their children are one years old -- out of either financial, professional, or personal necessity. In today’s society, there are concerns as to whether attending daycare during infancy produces negative or positive effects on the development of children. Many of these concerns are influenced by the fear that separating an infant from its mother may cause emotional harm to the child or disrupt the mother-infant bond. No study finds that children of employed mothers suffer solely because their mothers are working. Research has shown that mothers who work spend as much time playing with their babies as do mothers without outside jobs (Huston &

One of the largest social controversies of the current time are the parental pressures attached to whether or not a child should attend daycare. While many parents struggle with this decision, others do not have the luxury of choice; many questions are raised asking if it is beneficial or harmful for infants and young children to attend daycare, spending the majority of their waking hours with caregivers other than their parents. There are of course many opinions and studies regarding this issue. As with any controversial topic there is no right or wrong answers for the masses. The majority of studies conducted all seem to have similar results. This is an issue and dilemma of such personal magnitude that it should not only be regarded

Furthermore, it will analyze current literature reviews on positive impacts on the families by increasing the subsidized childcare centres at a low cost to encourage more participation of mothers in the labour force. Ultimately resulted in the economic growth and reduced poverty rate. Few fundamental concerns will be addressed over the universal childcare program, including lack of regulated childcare spaces as a result of an excessive number of children. Moreover, possible negative impacts on children’s development when increased in time span away from parents. Lastly, discuss possible actions that government might take in order to resolve the issues as policy

While daycare/ childcare centers provide a safe haven for young children and left in the care of licensed caregivers, there is more to daycare then just temporary relief for parents. These facilities offer a nurturing and fun learning environment to promote curiosity, innovation, and continuous growth in developmental abilities and positivity in children, and they also have the ability to provide encouraging and engaging activities that endorse emotional, social, and academic development (Phillips 1987). Within these facilities, high quality care calls for each child reach greater levels of learning and can develop skills at their own pace under supervision.

Families' reliance on childcare has risen significantly over the past 30 years. In 1993, 9.9 million children under age 5, needed care while their mothers worked (Bureau of the Census, 1995). More than two-thirds of all infants receive nonparental child care during their first year of life, with most enrolled for about 30 hours each week (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 1995).

Studies have shown that daycares do not do a grave disservice to the attachment of children or infants however in the 1980’s a study did prove the behavior between children of daycare and children who stayed home were different. With many parents not having the choice to have one stay at home with the children it is necessary to enroll a child in daycare. Another study conducted in Australia shows that moreover the facility itself it’s the mother’s attitude that relays and is projected onto the child. (Bukatko, 2008) Understanding this

In the best of cases, the returns on a preschool education compared to the cost of enrollment is nearly seventeen times, an enormous benefit for a relatively low cost. (Schweinhart) This number comes from the results of the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project, a 40 year long, completely comprehensive look into how the addition of a preschool education positively impacts students from low income, urban families. The findings included, among other things, a 14 percent employment rate increase and $5,000 average annual wage increase in children who were able to attend a preschool compared to their less educated peers. Other benefits included included an 11 percent increase in homeownership, 17 percent increase in the ability to own two or more automobiles, 26 percent higher likelihood to own a savings account, 35 percent decrease in violent crime, and a 27 percent increase in likelihood to have the custody of children. (Schweinhart) These numbers would seem to indicate that preschool enrollment is an incredible value for the health and stability of a community, however all of these benefits may take decades to fully

Let’s face it, daycares are expensive. Most people can’t afford to send their child to the nicest daycares and the ones who can don’t really need it. The author pointed out that the richer people who can afford those well off daycares are parents who are more likely to read and do puzzles with their kids at home. On the other end, children who can’t afford it are often watching lots of TV and getting yelled at more than praised. This really opened my eyes and showed me how backwards our daycare system is. We are neglecting the families who desperately need our help for those with bigger pocket books. Well off families are the only ones who really have a choice where their child goes, but they don’t really need the daycare in the first place. What the author is saying is that when you have a secure home life daycare doesn’t really matter and if your home life is not secure any daycare is probably better than staying home. This concept had never really occurred to me and I found it very

Child-care or non-maternal care of a child also has an impact on a child’s development. Research has found that child-care quality is positively correlated with family income indicating that those children living in poverty would be more likely to receive poorer child-care (NICHD, 1997). Studies show that quality early child-care

Concerns have been raised about the negative effects of nonmaternal care in infancy and the effects of early maternal deprivation on child functioning (Belsky, 1988). However, in a 1982 a National Academy of Sciences panel of experts reviewing the existing evidence concluded that there were no consistent direct effects of maternal employment on child development (Kamerman & Hayes, 1982). Perhaps there has been a limitation on earlier studies on the effect of maternal employment on child outcome was a failure to examine contextual and process variables.

According to the Department for Education and Skills and Department for works and Pensions, (2002), They argue that ‘ Childcare can make a significant impact to children, parents, and communities, helping to tackle child poverty, improve children’s achievements at school, enable parents to choose to work as a route out of poverty. In other word, the government strongly believes that high quality childcare provision will enable children to excel in schools, helping them to improve in their education and helping poor families with children improve their standard of living by getting them back into paid employment as well as training.