1. Day Care
Dr. Blakemore
PSY 235

2. Preliminary Remarks Introductions
The view in psychology – empirical evidence
Time spent with children by parents in recent decades
The impact of family versus non-family caregivers (day caregivers, sitters, etc.)
Family is more important than anything else

7. What was the “old” question?
The old question was “Does day care harm children?”
More subtle perhaps: “Is parental (read maternal) care better for children than out of family care?”
When the majority of children receive some nonparental care, this doesn’t make sense to ask any more.

8. The answer to the old question
It depends
On who does the care in both places
What they do
How they teach
How they interact
Some “day care” is “better” for some children than some care by some parents
For example, disadvantaged children typically benefit from educational, quality day care
The issue is quality of care
This has been established by decades of research

9. Indiana regulations https://childcareta.acf.hhs.gov/licensing/state/IN
Basically, to operate a child care home, one needs to be 21, pass a TB and background check (spouse too)
Ratio of 6:1 infants/toddler (24 mos.) to 12:1 children over 3 years
To be a director of a center, there are education requirements (minimal is usually associate degree in early childhood education), but caregivers need only to be 18 and high school graduates (with TB and background checks)

10. The new question Most mothers employed (60-70% under school age)
What is associated with good quality day care?
That is likely to vary by children’s ages
Infants need different things than 4-year-olds need
In the US, it’s hard to find good quality day care in general – much American day care is of modest quality, and some is very low quality
But it’s extremely difficult to get good quality day care for infants
I am going to focus primarily here on children older than 2 years

11. Types of care Caregiver in one’s own home (e.g., babysitter, nanny)
Day care homes – the babysitter’s house
Day care centers
For profit centers
Not for profit centers
Ministries (typically not-for-profit, but less regulated than other centers except for safety codes)

12. Caregiver in the child’s home
Typically (but not always) the most expensive care
Can be trained professional nannies, more common in large cities, and for wealthier families
Sometimes college students, who may also have backgrounds in child development or early childhood education, work in such positions
Sometimes an immigrant non-native English speaker
Often an older woman who raised her own children
With some exceptions, often have the least training of any child care givers available in child development
No legal responsibilities for continuing education, regulation, inspections, etc.

13. Day care homes Some licensed, some not
Licensure usually involves physical health and safety issues
Some states (not Indiana) require annual continuing education in child development or other issues related to child care
Typically the caregiver is a woman in her 30s also caring for her own children
Some have had training in child development, but many have not
Various ages of children present
Rarely have an educational program
The television is often on at day care homes
This is not true of all day care homes

14. Aside about television
The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that children under the age of 2 years not be exposed to television
You can look up some research on this on the web (make sure you look at credible sources)
I will mention three findings briefly
Just having television on reduces the play complexity of 9 to12-month-olds
Some evidence of brain changes as a result of television exposure
Children watching “Baby Einstein” showed poorer language development

15. Day care centers They vary
The highest quality are usually not-for-profit centers run by educational institutions, businesses, hospitals, etc., where the institution subsidizes the cost of the care
High quality care may be found in some government subsidized centers for poorer families, for the same reason
Typically have teachers with some training in early childhood education or child development
Have age-graded groups
Have an educational program
Have child-sized materials and furnishings
The focus is on the children – they are built to serve the children

16. What are the big expenses?
Staff – the biggest!!
Materials and food
How could you cut costs?
Cheaper staff
Higher ratios (fewer staff)
Cheaper staff have a higher turnover
Thus, operating for profit is likely to reduce caregiver quality

17. What impacts children’s outcomes?
First, some evidence that the sheer number of children present does stress some children (not all), and slightly increases stress hormones and peer aggression
Thus, day care centers with larger groups have been identified with these “problematic” issues

18. More on outcome
The findings for language and cognitive development are quite consistent
The most important factor that impacts children’s outcome in child care is the education of the caregiver in child development or early childhood education
Such caregivers interact more developmentally appropriately with children
The children’s cognitive and intellectual development is enhanced
And effects can be seen for some years after children have entered elementary school

19. Other factors Higher quality care is more likely to be found when
Groups are smaller
Groups are age-graded
Educational programs are present
Caregivers are stable – not constantly changing
Found most often in not-for-profit centers