Day-Care Homes

Similar to day-care centers are day-care homes, private homes where small groups of children are cared for. Less expensive than centers, they are immensely popular, looking after roughly three quarters of U.S. children cared for outside the home. The day-care mother is usually a parent herself.

For the child, a day-care home can offer a homelike environment, a caring woman to look after him, and the company of a small group of children. But often little is done to monitor such facilities. The Toronto Globe and Mail thus reports that the quality of day-care homes in Canada ranges from “excellent to abysmal.” Ten percent of the homes were unsafe for children.

Even less is known about the effect of day-care homes​—which do the bulk of the care giving. It appears, though, that a day-care mother may do little to stimulate a child’s intellectual and emotional growth; her concern may be little more than to feed and keep him out of mischief until mother returns. Day-care-home children are thus often found plopped in front of a TV set.

Little is also known about how day care affects the emotional bond between mother and child or to what extent children become overly attached to their care givers. Tests demonstrate, however, that given a choice between mother and day-care worker, most children still prefer mother.