Information Related to "The Day Care Dilemma"
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As dual-career parents head to work, they commonly drop off their preschool-aged children at day care facilities-places where employees are among the lowest-paid and least-trained in all industries. Yet parents trust these facilities to take care of their most precious resource-their children.
The problems with most day care facilities are well known. While studies show that high-quality day care does not seem to harm children, other studies have found a correlation between the amount of time a child spends in day care with his or her later aggression and disobedience in school.
Health is another problem for children in day care. Parents often bring sick children to day care-where they infect others-because they can't or don't want to take a day off work. Further, when mothers work outside the home, their children often measure less ready for school-in other words, they are developmentally delayed.
Day care studies are always done with the assumption that what is being provided is high-quality day care. But all day care is not high quality. Why? Poor pay and demanding conditions are two of the major problems.
Child-care facilities with large numbers of children are simply unable to provide the sustained, personal, one-on-one attention that is so necessary for the healthy development of children.
Why have Americans embraced such changes that harm children? According to psychologist Robert Evans, who also worked as a teacher, it is because of rampant individualism. We think of "the individual as the basic unit rather than the family itself" (Family Matters: How Schools Can Cope With the Crisis in Child Rearing, 2004, p. 128).
"Rampant individualism" is a nicer way of describing the human perspective than what Paul wrote regarding the outlook people would have in the last days. Of this time, Paul wrote that "men will be lovers of themselves . . ." (2 Timothy 3:2). Rather than focusing on what is best for our children and best for society, Paul said people would focus on their own perceived needs and wants.
Related Information on UCG Sites:
Sidebar to Career, Home and Family: Can Women Really Do It All?
Table of Contents that includes "The Day Care Dilemma"
Parenting children - failure: