Quality Child Care Matters

Mother’s have quite the dilemma when deciding when and if to return to work after giving birth to a child. Sometimes the choice is made for them due to financial reasons and sometimes they have the luxury of deciding on which is the best scenario for themselves and their families. In trying to make this decision, mothers may wonder if and how their absence and the choice of child care will affect their child. In all the years I have spend in early childhood education and child care, I think I have probably seen all of the “scenarios” and know that there is no one right answer. Each situation is different and there are so many variables, even within each variable, but the evidence is so vast that there are certainly findings to please almost everyone (Belsky, 2009, p. 1). In my research on this delicate topic, I have come to the conclusion that the only two factors that can predict positive outcomes for children’s later development is the combination of child care quality and healthy family attachments and support. As you will see, there are so many variables and each plays into the other, but safe and secure relationships at home and in child care are the winning factors in this decades long debate. There are two well-known pieces of data that have been gathered which researchers have utilized throughout the years to study the effects of maternal employment on later development. The first was conducted by the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) and began in 1979. The NLSY79 is a nationally representative sample of 12, 686 young men and women who were 12-22 years old when they were first surveyed in 1979. These individuals were interviewed annually through 1994 and are currently interviewed on a biennial basis” (US Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov/nls/y79summary.htm, para. 1). In 1986, the NLSY79 was used as “a separate survey of all children born to NLSY79 female respondents” to conduct more child-specific

References: Ainsworth, M. (1978). Patterns of attachment: a psychological study of the strange situation Philadelphia: Laurence Earlbaum Associates, Inc. Belsky, J. & Eggebeen, D. (1991, January 1). Early and extensive maternal employment and young children’s socioemotional development: children of the national longitudinal survey of youth. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 53(4), 1083-98. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No Belsky, J., Vandell, D., Burchinal, M., Clark-Stewart, K., McCartney, K., & Owen, M. (2007, March 1) 681-701, (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ756658). Retrieved August 15 From ERIC database. Belsky, J. (2009, March). Effects of child care on development. Institute for the Study of Children, Families and Social Issues Hill, J., Waldfogel, J., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Han, W. (2005, November 1). Maternal employment and child development: a fresh look using newer methods 41(6), 833-850. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ733669). Retrieved August 25, 2009. University of Manchester. (2008). Combining childrearing with work: do maternal employment experiences compromise child development Document Reproduction Service No. EJ782856). Retrieved August 15, 2009 from ERIC database. Motherhood-extent and effects of maternal employment. (n.d.). Retrieved August 26, 2009 from Child Care: A comprehensive Longitudinal Study of Young Children’s Lives. (1992, June 1) NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (1987). The effects of infant child care on infant- Mother attachment security: results of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care