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Quality care has its ups and downs
New study details effects of day care on young children
BY JONATHAN SHUGARTS REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

High-quality day care can be beneficial to a child's social development in the formative early years after they are born, researchers say. But a lengthy stay in day care during the early years can also lead to attachment issues and behavioral problems later in life for some children.

Some parents can't afford high-quality care for their young children, which leads many to make a difficult choice: work more to afford quality care and spend less time with their kids or substitute quality care with what's affordable.

Longer hours at work for parents can mean longer hours in day care for children. But interaction with peers is a great benefit for young children who are in quality care, said Rhonda Griffin, the new director of Little People, a day care in Southbury."Children are more socially aware when they go to day care," she said. "You really learn a lot of social skills at day care."

Teachers at high-quality day care centers do more than just baby sit, she said. They'll
monitor a child's social growth and work to lengthen their attention spans by keeping them focused during activities."You have to have caring and devoted staff that don't want to just cash a paycheck," she said.

Another benefit is that teachers work with parents and local school districts to identify children who need additional social or academic help before they enter kindergarten, she
said.

But due to requirements of the No Child Left Behind law, children are being required to learn academic skills sooner, she said."Kindergarten has now become first grade," she said. "First grade has become second grade."

The federally funded National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has studied children and families since 1962. Starting in 1991, the institute began a comprehensive study of 1,300 children in day care who were 6 months to 4½ years old.

Although the study is still ongoing, its recent findings were released in 2006. Researchers found that up until they reached the age of 5, the average child spent 27 hours per week in center-based care.

The study also showed that "children who spent more time in child care were somewhat less cooperative, more disobedient and more aggressive at age 2 and age 4½, and in kindergarten, but not at age 3."

Children who averaged 30 hours of child care or more each week during their first 4½ years of life were somewhat more likely to show problem behaviors at age 4 and in kindergarten, the report also states.

But for some working families, having care is a necessity, as parents have to keep the electricity flowing and food on the table.Jennifer Randall, a teacher at the Glastonbury branch of Bright Horizons Family Solutions, a national day-care provider with eight locations in Connecticut, said some of the children in her care stay with her for most of the day

"I'm sure the parents feel bad dropping their kids off for 10 hours a day," she said. "But at the same time these parents need to work."

Mornings at the center include reading a book, or writing exercises, among other things. A couple of hours are set aside for nap time, while a large chunk of the day is spent in play. But having other children to interact with is one of the benefits quality care can offer.

"You need some form of social development," Randall said. "You need something, or else the kids get to kindergarten and can't socially interact."

But that benefit comes with the cost of parents missing some of a child's first moments while they are in day care. Randall toilet trains some of her students, takes photos of their accomplishments and watches as their young brains start to form.

"I feel like I'm raising some of these kids," she said. "I get them the bulk of the day, five
days a week."

Most parents leaving their children at the center are busy professionals, such as accountants and attorneys, she said.And some children develop an attachment to her and other teachers at the center. At the end of the day, some don't want to leave her care. That, Randall imagines, is heartbreaking for parents.

"It probably kills the parents when they don't want to leave or they're unhappy to see them," Randall said.

A large board displays the photos that teachers take of their students. It's kept so parents can see their child's progress at the center while they are away at work.

"I'm documenting their development more than they are," she said. "It's pretty much ascrapbook of their life at the center."

But quality care isn't without expense, as it can average roughly $10,000 per year.That can mean nearly 30 percent of a family's income can go to child care, said Peg Oliveira, a consultant for early care for Connecticut Voices for Children, a children's advocacy organization.

"You've got this system that everybody realizes is a public good," Oliveira said. "If parents didn't have child care, we wouldn't have the economy we do now."

State-funded education begins at age 5, but before that age parents are left to cover the cost of care, she said."Somehow at 5 we think it's appropriate, but at four, we don't," she said. "There needs to be a philosophical shift."

Childcare good for kids
December 19, 2007 - 6:44PM

Working parents can shake off any guilt about leaving their children in childcare all day, after a new Australian study found it actually helped their social development.

Preliminary results from the nationwide, long-term study found attending childcare in Australia generally had a positive effect on children's social and emotional wellbeing.

The results differ from similar large-scale studies conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom, but the researchers think the difference could be due to consistently higher standards of care offered locally.

Charles Sturt University early childhood education researcher Linda Harrison found children aged two or three who attended more hours in centre-based childcare were more socially competent. Associate Professor Harrison, who is analysing the results of the ongoing federal government-funded study Growing Up in Australia, said her preliminary findings showed no evidence that longer hours in care were linked to poor outcomes for children.

"In fact, the results of this large study indicate the reverse," Prof Harrison said. "Children who attended more hours in centre-based childcare were more socially competent and children who received more hours in home-based childcare had fewer behaviour problems. These findings, which differ from US and UK research, can be partially explained by Australia's national system of quality assurance, which monitors levels of quality in all childcare centres and family day care homes."

The results showed that using a combination of types of care, such as a childcare centre as well as a relative or friend, could particularly benefit children.

Higher quality care was also linked to better outcomes for children.

"When carers spent more time actively engaged with children, children had higher ratings on measures of social and emotional adjustment and development through play," Prof Harrison said.

Growing up in Australia began in 2003/04 and will follow 5,000 children then aged less then 12 months and 5,000 aged four until 2010/11.

// posted by Tammy Wachter @ 2:11 PM 0 comments

What to make of preschool plan
Posted by Kathleen O'Brien December 12, 2007

QUICK, NAME the childhood institution that is seen -- by somebody -- as all these things: a status symbol, a torture chamber, a source of fun, an entitlement.

It is your neighborhood preschool.

When it comes to preschool, most people base their opinion not on the care the kid is receiving, but on what the mother is doing while her kid is there.

Take two kids, Matt and Melanie. They are both at a preschool playing with puzzles.
Matt's mom is an at-home mom, and Matt attends for "enrichment" and "socialization." At this moment, Matt's mom may be vacuuming, running errands, volunteering at another school, or in Pilates class, but it doesn't really matter. Society approves of Matt's situation. Most would say Matt's mom is doing the right thing.

And in a way, Matt's attendance is sort of a status symbol, for it says his family has enough money for his mom to avoid paid employment and, at the same time, pay for him to attend preschool.

Melanie, playing alongside him, is there for a different reason. Melanie's mom works full time, so Melanie "has" to be here.

Same school, same puzzle, but society still hasn't figured out what it thinks of Melanie's situation. Opinions would fall somewhere between grudging acceptance and outright condemnation. Mix them together, and you'd get profound ambivalence. And worry: Will preschool harm Melanie? Shall we all hold our breath while the social scientists study her generation? (The general consensus of these studies: Academic achievement is boosted, but probably only temporarily; behavioral problems increase, but later settle down; sick days increase but the immunities lead to robust health later.)

Then there are those who feel preschool is something to be avoided at all costs; poisonous, almost.

Some of the angriest letters and e-mails I receive are from young fathers who work long hours precisely so their wives can stay home with their children. They see preschool as flat-out bad -- germy and raucous and unnecessary -- and you'd never be able to convince them otherwise.

They sacrifice mightily to keep their children at home, and deeply resent families -- the mothers, actually -- who make other choices. They see those mothers as materialistic witches who are harming their kids.

All this makes it fascinating to consider Gov. Corzine's new push to expand -- and pay for -- full-day preschool. He wants about 100 districts that don't now provide it to 3- and 4-year-olds to offer it.

He also wants wealthier districts to offer it to their poorer children, with the state picking up the tab. Initial estimates talk about enrolling an additional 17,000 children. I suspect in the upcoming debate, different people will view the proposal through their own prisms. Those who see preschool as a status symbol may be bewildered about the state expanding it to poor areas. Those who view preschool as harmful may be alarmed. Those whose children need it desperately may not believe this wondrous turn of events.

Most of the political wrangling will involve money, of course. But behind the words will be those very different -- warring, almost -- opinions about preschool. They'll give this debate an extra emotional punch.

The Science of Everyday Life
Helping Children Get a Real-Time Appreciation for Science
© Theresa Willingham

Children are best inspired to love science by seeing others' love of science, and
understanding how it affects their lives on a daily basis.

If you’ve ever seen crumbs clinging to cellophane in your kitchen or in a store, you’ve seen science in action and a science – static electricity – that even young children can comprehend and appreciate.

Science happens, just like that, every day, and if you honor the first principle of imparting knowledge – noticing learning moments and capturing them – science can become the meaningful, wonderful, applicable thing it’s meant to be. And few things are more remarkable than science learned in context.

Household Science
Kitchen science is the most accessible. Boiling water for spaghetti? Condensation happens along with evaporation. Matter is changing from liquid to gas. Throw an ice cube in the pot and you’re going from solid to liquid to gas. Play with it, especially with younger children – turn a glass over the steam and watch the gas turn back into a liquid.

Make some Italian dressing and you’re exploring emulsions with density and viscosity. If you’ve got a little glycerin (available at any pharmacy), pour some into a separate glass with oil and water and you’ll have something like a mini lava lamp, with three visibly well-defined densities. Suspend things of different densities in the concoction, like a coin, an ice cube, and a cork and see what happens.

Model Curiosity
Wonder aloud as you go. The best way to create interest in children is by modeling it. It’s one thing to tell kids that science is interesting; it’s another more inspiring thing altogether for them to see their parents articulating fascination of cause and effect when they press on the gas pedal. Explain how combustion happens and the car goes.

Being pleased with the successful chemical reactions of a cake done just right is good; discussing the more unfortunate chemical reactions of a burned dinner, though, can be just as useful.Garden science also provides an everyday lab. Every seed that sprouts is a science experiment - a response to sunlight, water and nutrients in the ground.

Bath time offers yet more opportunities for hands on science as you explore dirt in suspension and the chemical reactions of soap and water.

Everyday Science Resources
There are some great books on backyard and kitchen science, to help families grasp and explore these moments better. Barron’s Science Wizardry for Kids, by Margaret Kenda and Phyllis S. Williams (Barrons Juveniles, 1995), is a wonderful volume full of great experiments and explorations using everyday things. The Science Book, by Sara Stein (Workman Publishing, 1980), is another great “science of everyday things” book.

A great website for the everyday scientist is How Stuff Works where you can learn everything from how a vacuum cleaner works to how rockets fly. This site looks at everything from the basics of plumbing to the complexities of computers to medicine and the everyday physics of living.

Appreciating the Wonder of Everyday Life
We take so many everyday things for granted - tooling around in our cars, running clothes and dish washers, flushing toilets, going to dentists and doctors, watching television, using computers, and flipping light switches on and off. We do these as routinely as we breathe and seldom take time to think about the everyday wonders that make these things possible.

Take a few moments to wonder, and to let your children see you wondering. You’ll not only learn a few things yourself, but you’ll inspire your children to ask questions and, better yet, to stop taking the miracle of being alive for granted.

Infants Exhibit Early Understanding of Social Behavior

A recent study conducted by Yale researchers finds that the ability to evaluate social behavior and distinguish a friend from foe may begin during infancy, not in the earlier stages of adolescence as previously thought.

In the experiment, the infants watched several demonstrations of three toy-like shapes that were given certain behavioral traits, the “climber,” the “helper,” and the “hinderer.” The infants were then encouraged to play with the helper and hinderer shapes, but the majority of the infants consistently chose the shape that had "behaved" most positively.

Previous studies have indicated that infants base their social evaluation on an individual's general physical features or attractiveness. This new finding reveals that infants are also capable of reacting to social actions, not just superficial traits. These experiments
support claims that the perception of a person's intentions may be untrained and that some social evaluations are innate, even during a child’s first few months.

The National Academies have done several studies on the phases of development, from early childhood to adulthood. In particular, the 2000 report From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development discusses the rapid growth of a child’s mind from birth. The report concludes that the first months and years of life matter a lot because they can provide either a sturdy foundation or a fragile one for what is to come. From the time of conception to the first day of kindergarten, environments and experiences shape the child’s growth in ways that can enhance or inhibit healthy development.

Children exhibit dramatic progress from birth in their emotional, social, regulatory, and moral capacities. The Academies’ report recommends that the nation thoroughly re-examine policies that affect young children and bolster its investments in their well-being, calling upon the president to establish a task force to review the entire portfolio of public investments in child care and early childhood education -- with the goal of making the most of scientific knowledge.

Early childhood education
This investment pays off for children and for companies

From Bertram L. Scott and Charles E.M. Kolb.
Scott is executive vice president, Strategy, Integration and Policy at
TIAA-CREF, and Kolb is president of the Committee for Economic Development:

America treats early education as an individual consumer choice rather than a public responsibility, putting the financial burden largely on working parents. Yet the absence of a comprehensive, public early-education system does not save money. Society suffers in many ways for failing to take advantage of the learning potential of all its children -- from lost economic productivity and tax revenues, to higher crime rates, to diminished participation in the civic and cultural life of the nation.

Leaving aside the social aspects of the issue, let's consider the business case for investment in early education.

The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study found that every dollar spent on preschool for poor children saves seven dollars in remediation, welfare, unemployment and other such "catch-up" costs. A systematic review of 17 studies led the Centers for Disease Control to conclude that early childhood programs are effective in preparing children for school, reducing rates of teen pregnancy and delinquency, and increasing rates of employment.

In a long-term North Carolina study, low-income children between birth and age 6 who participated in a model child care intervention program along with family support were more likely to attend college and be in a high-skilled job or in higher education at age 21 than their peers who were not offered the program.

In North Carolina, unscheduled absences cost small businesses an average of $60,000 annually and large companies an average of $3.6 million. Nearly one-quarter of unscheduled absences are due to family issues, including child care needs.

North Carolina is further along than we may realize in achieving a solution. This state boasts two nationally recognized programs, "Smart Start" and "More at Four," which expand access to early childhood education. But there is still much to be done to ensure that these two programs receive the funding necessary so that all eligible children in this state are able to participate in high-quality early education programs.

What can business leaders do about it? We can both speak out and be willing to put our money where our mouths are.

In a time of tight state budgets, we must have the foresight and resolve to declare early education a high priority for government investment.

The obstacles to funding early childhood education are matters of political will, not public sentiment. In North Carolina, 59 percent of all voters are more likely to support a legislator who votes to expand early childhood education programs.

When business leaders speak, politicians listen. The public has expressed the resolve to invest. Now business needs to recognize that early education is a "win-win" for business and for North Carolina families.