Page Two

Each weekday morning, millions of diapered infants and yawning toddlers are dropped off at day-care centers. For many youngsters, the transition from home to day care goes smoothly.

Those used to the routine respond affectionately​—or impassively. Newer children may cry and cling to their mothers. A few reassuring words from Mom, though, usually stop the tears. If not, a day-care worker takes over the comforting because, tears or no tears, the women must get to work. And for the next ten hours, the day-care center must substitute for Mom . . .

‘Who Will Watch Our Children?’

DAY-CARE centers throughout the world are a product of the unprecedented influx of women into the job market. “The fastest-growing group in the labor market,” says day-care expert Alison Clarke-Stewart, “is mothers of preschool children, particularly children under three. This trend is pronounced and worldwide.”

Finding someone dependable to look after the children while mother works, however, may be easier said than done. Relatives rarely volunteer. Complicated networks of sitters​—formed by recruiting friends and neighbors—​often prove precarious at best and bewildering to the children. Reliable paid sitters and nannies are hard to come by​—and too expensive for most couples.

The situation is no less frustrating in developing lands. Nigerian women simply used to carry their infants on the back while working. But increasing numbers of African women have forsaken domestic or farm work for jobs in offices, stores, and factories where the strap-baby-on-the-back method is inappropriate. In times past, the women could always call upon their extended families for a handy baby-sitter. But, explains the Sunday Times of Lagos, Nigeria, “with free primary education and availability of more manual, unskilled jobs, the last residue of [relatives available] to sit babies at home went too.” Suggested this newspaper: “Well organised Day Care Centres may be the answer.”

Yes, day-care homes and centers are rapidly becoming the child-care option of choice. After all, they are generally dependable, convenient, and cheaper than a hired sitter. They allow children to associate with a group of peers. They provide nutritious meals, along with recreational and educational programs. As day-care consultant Delores Alexander told Awake!: “Day care is a support to the whole family.”

Nevertheless, some fear that the current move toward day care may have ominous implications for children. Are there legitimate reasons for such concerns? Parents need to know so that they can make an informed decision when it comes to their own children.

The Day-Care Controversy

It is a pleasant place. The playrooms are painted in cheerful colors and adorned with posters and samples of toddler art. Toys and games are neatly stacked on shelves. And the place rings with the sound of children.

“We care for about 130 children,” says Bernice Spence, the motherly woman who runs this day-care center. And just where do these children come from? “For the most part, they are the children of working parents who live nearby. Our staff? A number are certified teachers.”

A WELL-MANAGED day-care center that is staffed by caring and competent personnel does leave a fine impression. Parents feel secure when their children are cared for in such a place. Nevertheless, day-care centers are the focus of raging controversies. The reason? For one thing, quality centers are not always the norm. Some are poorly maintained, poorly managed, poorly staffed, and pack children in like luggage.

Publicly funded day care in New York City is generally of good quality. But it will cost the city $201 million in 1987​—over $4,800 per child! In lands such as Sweden, where governments have allocated generous day-care budgets, a high quality of care likewise prevails. But in the Third World, and even in some U.S. communities, public day-care funds are inadequate. The result? Children may receive inferior care.

Child Care for Sale

This is true even of for-profit day-care centers. Granted, many fine ones exist. Some centers, though, trim costs by assigning fewer caretakers to more children. Or they cut corners by hiring at rates hovering above minimum wage​—which turns away the best-trained professionals.

True, many day-care workers put up with poor pay because they simply love children. But what can happen when such commitment is lacking? Samuel and his wife found out. Together they ran a day-care center in Lagos, Nigeria​—until they felt obliged to shut it down. Samuel recalls: “Whenever my wife had to go shopping or be away for other reasons, on returning she would find that the helpers had not been caring for the children.”​—See page 6.

In the United States, profit-making centers must survive the scrutiny of licensing agencies. But reports Newsweek: “Most licensing requirements are lax, and state agencies don’t have the money or the manpower to regulate the day-care industry.”

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.

Day Care​—How Does It Affect Children?

Because day care covers such a wide spectrum of quality, researchers have had a difficult time determining how day care really affects children. True, some day-care advocates speak quite optimistically. Says Alison Clarke-Stewart in her book Daycare: “The good news from all these studies​—in Canada, England, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, the United States—​is that care in a decent daycare facility has no apparent detrimental effects on children’s intellectual development.” Some studies even indicate that children from low-income families benefit from the intellectual stimulation of day care!

However, researchers Belsky and Steinberg caution: “To an overwhelming degree, research on day care has been conducted in university-based or university-connected centers with high staff-child ratios and well-designed programs. . . . Yet, most of the day care available to the nation’s parents is certainly not of this type and may not be of this quality.” How, then, do children in more typical day-care settings fare? Concluded Belsky and Steinberg: “We know shockingly little about the impact of day care on children.”​—The journal Child Development, Volume 49, pages 929-30.

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.

The Problems of Peer Contact

One benefit of day care is that the children learn to get along better with peers. There is another side to this, however. Says a Biblical adage: “Bad associations spoil useful habits.” (1 Corinthians 15:33) Research from the United States and Europe shows that day-care children tend to be ‘more aggressive, less cooperative with adults, more self-assertive, less conforming, and less impressed by punishment than home-reared children.’

Alison Clarke-Stewart claims that such behavior really “reflects greater maturity and social competence rather than being something to worry about.” But this may be of little comfort to parents who see a formerly mild child unleash profanity, especially if those parents are endeavoring to instill Bible principles in their child.​—Ephesians 4:29.

Health Risks

Day care also involves health risks. The CDC (U.S. Centers for Disease Control) speaks of “a growing need for controlling infectious diseases that frequently affect children in day care.” The so-called day-care diseases include hepatitis A, shigellosis (a serious intestinal disorder), and Hemophilus influenzae type B (a bacterial infection). Diarrhea and fever are common symptoms. Disease is often the result of clustering small children who tend to put everything in their mouths and who are untrained in proper toilet habits.

A good center, though, takes health precautions seriously. “We teach the children to wash their hands after using their toilet,” explained day-care consultant Delores Alexander. “And we don’t accept sick children knowingly.” Added Willoughby House director Bernice Spence: “If a child becomes sick during the day, we often call the parent and tell her to take him home.” Regular medical exams of staff and children are also important precautionary measures.

Nevertheless, researcher Clarke-Stewart admits: “Children in daycare centers get more flu, rashes, colds, and coughs than children at home . . . A child’s runny nose may be a price mothers are willing to pay to have their children in a daycare center while they work.” But in view of the foregoing, it seems that day care could entail risks of greater consequence than a runny nose. What does all of this mean, then, for mothers who feel they have to work?

[Box on page 6]

Day Care and Sexual Abuse

Much publicity has recently been given to child-abuse scandals involving day-care workers. Are day-care centers havens for pedophiles and child pornographers?

Such a question evokes strong emotions from some day-care workers. “I really get angry at that,” said Bernice Spence, a day-care-center administrator. “I just hate to see day care get a bad name. Most of the people I know in day care are dedicated people​—they care about children.”

Responsible administrators, however, have taken firm steps. Awake! spoke to Doby Flowers, deputy administrator for the Agency for Child Development in New York City. Over 40,000 children are enrolled in day-care programs under her supervision. Said Miss Flowers: “We screen our day-care staffs thoroughly. We check to see if they have criminal or child-abuse records. And since 1984, all day-care workers must be fingerprinted.”

Do child abusers tend to gravitate toward day-care work? Replied Miss Flowers: “You have pedophiles in religious orders, the legal order, in education. The profile of the pedophile crosses all income, occupational, racial, and ethnic lines.” Nevertheless, as Dr. Roland Summit, a psychiatrist specializing in treating sexually abused children, puts it: “The risk of exploitation for a child increases directly as the child is removed further from the care of its biological mother.”

What, then, should parents with children in day care do? “Listen to your child!” says Doby Flowers. “Sit down and talk with your child. Watch for changes in behavior or signs of distress, such as bed-wetting or a sudden reluctance to go to day care.” Parental vigilance and education of a child are the best weapons against child abuse.​—See Awake! of January 22, 1985, “Child Molesting​—You Can Protect Your Child.”

[Picture on page 5]

How does day care affect the bond between mother and child?

Day Care​—Choosing the Best for Your Child!

THE issue of day care is complex. For many families, day care fills a real need. At the same time, disturbing questions have been raised regarding its effect upon children. Parents must therefore face the fact that day care has both positive and negative aspects, that not all day care is quality care. Serious thought must be given before placing a child in day care.

‘What’s Best for Infants?’

For example, is your child a small infant? Some experts, such as respected psychologist Burton White, strongly advise against putting infants into day care. He told Awake!: “During the first six months of life, the children who develop best are those who have a tremendous amount of attention lavished upon them; the ones who get prompt attention when they’re uncomfortable and who enjoy a lot of fun play with someone who thinks that there’s nothing more important in the world than that child!

“Once the child gets to be a crawler at six or seven months of age,” Dr. White continued, “that child now needs ready access to somebody who’s crazy about him! That’s in order to facilitate the natural learning process, to support his curiosity, to increase his enthusiasm, to do any number of things that feed into the development of a solid human being. A child does not get this support from substitute caretakers. Rarely will anyone other than a child’s parents or grandparents show such interest.”

A prophet of old asked: “Can a wife forget her suckling so that she should not pity the son of her belly?” (Isaiah 49:15) Mothers are quick to respond to a baby’s virtually nonstop demands for love and attention. But will a hired caretaker​—with several infants crying for attention—​respond the way a parent will? The Bible speaks of the way “a nursing mother cherishes her own children.” (1 Thessalonians 2:7) Though not all mothers are able to breast-feed, doing so enhances the mother-child bond. Will an infant in day care receive this nurturing?

Examining Your Priorities

Some doctors thus recommend delaying substitute care until a baby is at least four months old. Dr. White, however, suggests that infants should have “nothing but an occasional baby-sitter for the first six months of life. Afterward, no more than three to four hours a day of high-quality substitute care.”

Let’s assume that day care is not good for infants. Will not infants simply outgrow any problems resulting from it? Dr. White bristles at that notion: “That amounts to speculation. I’m not going to take chances with my kids that way, and I’m not going to recommend it for anybody else.”

Though many are inclined to reject such a strong position, Dr. White’s sentiments are hard to dismiss. Nevertheless, parents​—not researchers—​must decide what is best for them and their children, and often economic considerations prevail. So after carefully weighing all factors involved, some may still decide to utilize some form of infant child care.​—See page 10.

Some may be in a position to rethink their priorities. After all, children are infants only once. The opportunity to train a child “from infancy” passes quickly. (2 Timothy 3:15) If putting off secular work for a few years​—or simply living with less income—​is not practical, some may therefore decide to work part-time. This allows parents to remain their child’s primary caretakers.

Choosing Day Care

Can toddlers safely be placed in day care? Researchers are divided, but most agree that a child’s ability to tolerate separation from his parents increases with age. Once again, parents must decide if their child can handle day care. If so, this does not mean placing him in the first day-care home or center they find. Doby Flowers, deputy administrator of New York’s Agency for Child Development, advises: “Choose day care very carefully. What reputation does the center have in the community? Are the equipment and toys age-appropriate? Is it well cared for and clean? What are the staff’s credentials?”

Yes, the staff​—not fancy equipment or toys—​is the most important ingredient in child care. So visit several centers and homes and personally observe the way the care givers relate to children​—particularly your child. Ask: How stable is the staff? What kinds of meals are served? How many children does each worker care for? (The fewer, the better.) Do the children seem happy and at ease? Does the center or home meet local licensing and safety requirements? What is the daily routine of activities?

Knowing that you have the best child care available​—and affordable—​can do much to alleviate unnecessary guilt.

Making the Most of Day Care

Now that a suitable home or center has been found, do not simply begin dropping your child off there. Explain why he must be there. Assure him he has not been abandoned. Ease him into day care, perhaps accompanying him on a number of visits​—of increasing duration—​to the center or home before leaving him there all day. And, advises day-care-center director Bernice Spence, when dropping him off in the morning, “don’t rush the child! Take the time to calm him if he’s upset.”

Former day-care-center operators William and Wendy Dreskin warn: “Children can begin to feel that they have no choice, and they will become reconciled to their fate. They may stop expressing their feelings to the day care workers and their parents, but these feelings have not evaporated.” You must therefore monitor your child’s response to day care. Take time to discuss the events of his day. Hear out his complaints. (Proverbs 21:13) Be alert to signs of distress, such as nightmares or bed-wetting. “Every child reacts differently,” explained day-care consultant Delores Alexander. “And not all children can handle group centers.”

Christian parents need to give particular attention to their children. Jehovah’s Witnesses, for example, decline to participate in activities relating to certain religious holidays. Though they take pains to teach this Bible-based stand to their youngsters, their preschool children may be unable to grasp fully the issues involved. They may become upset when left out of “fun” activities. Christian parents must thus act as their children’s advocates, letting care givers know exactly what activities are off limits and discussing alternatives.a

They also watch that their children do not pick up ungodly traits from other children. The book Listening to the Great Teacher (published by the Watchtower Society) has helped many parents instill an appreciation for godly principles even in very small children.

Do not let day care destroy the bond of love between you and your child. The Bible tells about a woman named Hannah, who though separated from her young child Samuel for long periods of time maintained a loving relationship with him. (1 Samuel 2:18, 19) Certainly, you can do the same if you make wise use of the precious time you have with your child at the end of each day and on weekends. Indeed, with proper attention, that relationship can flourish!

Even at its best, substitute care is just that​—a mere substitute for the care of a loving mother and father. Admittedly, it is far from ideal. Until God’s promised new system arrives with its ideal conditions, many parents may be forced to utilize substitute care. (2 Peter 3:13; Isaiah 65:17-23) But if this is true in your case, choose it carefully. Closely monitor how it affects your child​—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. After all, children are an inheritance from God.​—Psalm 127:3.

[Footnotes]

[Box on page 10]

Child-Care Options​—Pros and Cons

The vast majority of parents utilize a variety of informal means to care for their children. Here are some of them:

GRANDPARENTS: Some believe that as care givers, grandparents are second only to the natural parents. Grandparents may quickly tire of the added responsibility as baby becomes a toddler. And differences in child-rearing standards (‘Grandmother knows best!’) often ignite disputes. In her book The Child Care Crisis, Fredelle Maynard says: “Precisely because [grandmother] is family, she doesn’t take orders and may need kid-glove treatment. If a hired caretaker hits your child or feeds him marshmallow fluff instead of cottage cheese, you can protest and if necessary end the arrangement. If grandmother violates your values and standards, that’s trouble.”

Frank communication between parents and grandparents, however, can often prevent needless friction. “There is a frustrating of plans where there is no confidential talk,” says the Bible. (Proverbs 15:22) A grandmother may cherish a child, but she must also recognize that the Bible assigns the responsibility of child rearing to the child’s parents. (Ephesians 6:4) Parents and grandparents must thus establish agreed-upon rules and standards if such an arrangement is to work satisfactorily.

TEENAGE SIBLINGS: When they are reasonably mature and responsible, this too can work out fine. Often, youths bitterly resent being told, ‘Look after your baby sister.’ And an apathetic childminder is likely to be unreliable, careless, and neglectful. Remember, the Bible says: “Foolishness is tied up with the heart of a boy [or girl].”​—Proverbs 22:15.

So care of young children by siblings must be closely monitored. Make sure your older son or daughter has specific instructions on feeding, care, and handling emergencies and that he or she is willing to give your child needed attention.

WORKING DIFFERENT SHIFTS: A large number of couples are attempting to handle child care themselves by working different shifts. Explains one father: “I go to work in mid- or late afternoon when my wife gets home. Thus our children are ‘covered’ by one or the other parent. . . . We feel that this arrangement has enabled both of us to know our children very well and to be the primary influences upon their lives.”

There are clouds within this silver lining, however. Couples can become ‘ships passing in the night,’ with little time for each other. And a parent who has just come in from a night of work is not always the most alert of caretakers; nor is he likely to get much rest during the day. Some couples feel that being able to care for their children personally is worth the sacrifice.

HIRED SITTERS: A qualified, caring baby-sitter or full-time nanny can often be an exceptional care giver. However, nannies are expensive. Some families leap the financial hurdle by getting together with one or two other families and jointly hiring someone to care for their children. The problem is finding the right someone. Warns the Bible: “As an archer piercing everything is the one . . . hiring passersby.”​—Proverbs 26:10.

This means carefully screening anyone you would entrust your child to. What do you really know about the prospective sitter? Does she have any previous experience or training in child care? How does she relate to your child and vice versa? Does she have undesirable habits​—like excessive TV watching, tobacco smoking, or drug abuse? Is she willing to abide by your principles and house rules?

When a family finally does locate a responsible, caring individual, they often find to their dismay that sitters are notoriously transient. For a child, this can mean periodically suffering heartbreak as sitters come​—and go.

[Box on page 11]

Children Left Alone

Growing numbers of children are their own caretakers. They are dubbed latchkey children because they are given the keys to their home so that they can let themselves in, since no one is home yet. Some estimate that there are millions of latchkey children in the United States alone.

Child-care experts are divided as to how old a child should be before he can safely be left alone for any length of time. Parents must therefore carefully decide what is best for their child, taking into consideration his or her age, temperament, abilities, and the particular circumstances of the home and neighborhood. The law of the land is also an important factor, as leaving a child unsupervised may be illegal in your community.​—Romans 13:1.

When a latchkey arrangement must be used, a number of practical steps may help ensure the safety of the child:

1. Make sure he knows how to contact you, perhaps phoning you as soon as he arrives home from school.

2. Keep important phone numbers (doctor, police, fire department) posted near the telephone.

3. Instruct your child not to open the door to strangers.

4. Give your child guidelines on the use of potentially dangerous appliances. Don’t leave matches lying around.

5. Keep your child busy with chores and homework.​—See Awake! of August 22, 1986, pages 14-16.

[Picture on page 9]

Rarely will a day-care worker show the same interest in a child that a parent will