Cancel That Guilt Trip: Day Care’s Good for Kids After All

As a working mother who chose group day care for her kids, Luann Cadby has known the arched eyebrow of disapproval. “They say, ‘I can’t believe you’d put your kid in day care and not have somebody come and live in your home,’ ” the Long Beach saleswoman said.

But after trying one nanny who was unreliable and a small family day-care center whose operators didn’t notice when her toddler left the house and walked home, Cadby placed her 2-year-old son, Mitchell, in the Montessori school his 7-year-old sister, Addison, attended.

Cadby believes her son will be better off there. “I want my child to learn enough to be advanced when he gets to kindergarten. When they’re at home, they just play with toys and are in front of the TV a lot more,” Cadby said. “And I like my child to be around other children. I find that kids who stay at home with a nanny are not as outgoing as kids in day care.”

Recent findings from a national child-care survey confirm Cadby’s observation that day care is not only OK, but actually better for children than nanny care or small family day care.

According to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s ongoing study of early child care, children in groups of three or more, particularly in high-quality centers, score higher than other children on language and cognitive tests and are also better behaved.

“If you’re in a setting with more kids, you have to have more rules to keep the kids managed, so the kids learn to go along with the rules,” said Alison Clarke-Stewart, a UC Irvine professor and a principle investigator of the study, which is following children from birth in 1,300 families nationwide.

“Nannies are usually housekeepers. They’re not mini-teachers. They may do wonderful things for the children’s emotional well being . . . but their main goal is not teaching skills that you would use when you go to school. Nor is it teaching kids rules about being compliant and cooperative,” she said.

For years, many working parents have sought out nannies or small family day-care homes to care for their children out of fear invoked not only by the McMartin Preschool controversy over children’s safety, but also by studies associating center-based care with more aggressive behaviors.

Now, largely as a result of high-profile cases, many parents are more afraid of nannies than of centers. Cadby said many of her friends have hidden cameras in their homes to make sure the nannies are not misbehaving.

The continuing national study is the largest so far to measure the effects of child care on children. The children are tested at ages 6 months, 15 months, 2 years and 3 years at home and in child-care settings.

At ages 2 and 3, children in groups of three or more were more compliant and scored lower on a checklist of problem behaviors, such as temper tantrums, than children cared for alone or with one other child. By age 3, kids cared for in centers also know their numbers and colors better--even better than children who stay at home with their mothers, Clarke-Stewart said.

*

For parents agonizing over child-care choices, she said the emerging pattern means that “you don’t have to be unduly worried that you’re putting your child at risk by putting them in child care. They’re not so different from those at home with Mom.”

On the other hand, the children exposed to others in day-care centers pay a price by catching more colds and ear infections, she said.

Most important, she added, the impact of child care overall in a child’s development pales in comparison to socioeconomic factors, such as the parents’ income and parenting skills.

Currently, 98% of U.S. children experience some form of day care. Of an estimated 13 million children under age 5 in day care, 30% are in centers, 30% are in child-care homes, 12% are with nannies, 11% are with grandparents and 15% are with fathers.

The results of the study so far lend support for both sides in the family-values debate. Child-care advocates say the study illuminates the need for government support for more and better child care. Critics say it means government should help more parents stay home with young children.

“It’s pro-family in that the family has just as much influence on kids whether they’re in child care or not. It supports the agenda of women working, in that if you find adequate care, your kids won’t be damaged,” Clarke-Stewart said.

After his fourth day, Cadby said her son, Mitchell, seems to have adjusted to the center. Already, he’s stopped crying when she leaves. “Now,” she said, “if we can only get him to stop saying ‘shut up,’ we’ll be OK.”