Infant Child Care 1 Childcare and Development: How does infant care affect a child’s development in later life? Robin Ybarra Southwestern College Lifetime Developmental Psychology September 28, 2020 Infant Child Care 2 Childcare and Development: How does infant care affect a child’s development in later life? Does infant care affect the development of children later in life? There has been a lot of research done on how the different styles of childcare can affect the how and when children begin to develop in certain areas. Most parents out there do what is best for their children under whatever familial circumstances they may be under. Some may be able to stay at home and raise their children, while others are obligated to put their children in some sort of daycare due to financial obligations. There are so many ways in which to raise our children, the only bad one being a neglectful and unstable home. I believe if the parent or parents are doing their best to raise their children, then they are doing it correctly. “Approximately 12.2 million children under age 6 attend childcare or preschool programs.” (Votruba-Drzal, et al, 2011) That number is way bigger than I had anticipated, and it varies from country to country. I know that day care and preschools are a thriving business, but I was surprised to see how many children were enrolled in them. For me I have seen a lot of bad daycare situations, so I chose to stay home with my kids. Unfortunately, not every family can have a stay-at-home parent. After researching the requirements for daycare facilities within the state of Kansas, I was saddened by the lack of experience and schooling an individual needs to open a day care facility. When the day care facility is lacking in staff or accredited individuals, they are unable to give the infant and young children the environment they need to thrive. The kids are unable to get the care, attention and schooling they need to learn the things they need at those age markers. The research points to a lower quality childcare facility producing lower developmental Infant Child Care 3 opportunities while a higher quality childcare or preschool gave the children a higher chance of developing on time. They tended to be more ready for school and tested higher than those that were in the lower quality facilities. Unfortunately, we see more of the lower quality facilities for those that are near poverty or at poverty level. “The families with fewer economic resources are less likely to use centerbased care, which tends to be of higher quality than other types of care” (McCartney et al, 2007) They tend to lean on other family members or those that are not accredited daycare centers. This can be both beneficial and hurtful to a child’s development. It can be beneficial because it could be care provided by a grandparent or someone the child values. This can help with emotional development. It can also be harmful to the child’s development because if that caregiver is not able to meet the academic needs for development for that child or children then they can become behind in their development. The quality of childcare I believe directly affects the child’s ability to develop. Not only can it affect children academically it can also affect them emotionally. “Children who began care early in life and were in care 30 or more hours a week were at increased risk for stress-related behavioral problems.” (Votruba-Drzal, et al., 2011) The more the children are away from their parentals, the more the stress increased in those young children’s lives. The uncertainty of whether mom and dad were coming back, and the change of environments left them feeling stressed. They tended to show more stress than a child that was raised specifically at home or in daycare for less time. I think as parents we need to become more aware of the quality of the day care that is being provided in our towns and cities. The requirements must change to require more training or more schooling or both. There are too many unqualified people out there taking care of children Infant Child Care 4 when they should not be. We must put a stop to childcare death and abuse instances. It is a scary world out there but we as parents must stand up and demand a better system for daycare providers for all income levels. Not only can daycare affect the development of children but also just the general relationships between an infant and its parents is so important. They need to be able to establish a connection and begin forming relationships at an early age. This helps them to understand and learn how to communicate emotionally with their caregivers and other children. If this emotional development is stunted or left unattended at all then the child can end up being unable to communicate on an emotional level as they grow older. “There is a process, of reciprocal socialization, in which infants’ behaviors invite further responses from parents and other care givers.” (Feldman, 2017) The infant can learn how to control their own emotions and learns to read the responses it got from its adult counterpart. This is integral to their growth in communication. There are many different types of parenting styles and ways to raise our children. It is constantly changing and differing from past generations. We all do what is best for our families and hope that our choices are the right ones for our children and family. Whether or not we raise our children as a single parent home, a two-parent home, foster home, bi-racial, ,LGTBQ, stay at home parent, working parent, in a day care, or familial caregiver we are always going to do something right and something wrong along the way of raising our children. Infant Child Care 5 Work Cited Page Feldman, R. S. (2017). Infant Interactions: Developing a Working Relationship. In Development Across the Life Span (pp. 192-193). Pearson. MCartney, K., Dearing, E., Taylor, B., & Bub, K. (2007). Quality Child Care Supports the Achievement of Low-Income Children: Direct and Indirect Pathways Through Caregiving and the Home Environment. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2705127/ Votruba-Drzal,, E., Coley, R., Maldonado-Carreño, C., Li-Grining, C., & Chase-Lansdale, L. (2011). Child Care and the Development of Behavior Problems among Economically Disadvantaged Children in Middle Childhood. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2941232/
