All parents try and give as much time to their children as possible. And mostly children all over the world are largely raised by their parents and family members. But sometimes due to situations or ideologies, parents put their children into daycare and other early childhood enrichment centers. While there is two opposing schools of thoughts, and the positive and negative effects of daycare on child development are both compelling as well as beneficial too.
When both parents are working, it gets difficult to find flexible work options of care at home for the little one. So parents are only left with one option of putting the children in safer environments at a daycare. While many kids get enriched positively but some others are believed to adopt bad habits from attending daycare. Let us here understand the effects of daycare on child development and future behaviors.
How can child psychology be affected by daycare attendance:
Children are constantly learning and getting enriched from the environment around. Child psychology is a complex box, which is hard to understand and harder to demonstrate. Every child learns at their own pace and gets influenced by factors which are infinite. It is difficult to ascertain what factors led to the adoption of a particular behavior by a child. But it is easy to relate to some findings when we keep them in a situation and take them out of it.
Daycare setting may or may not affect the child psychology at all but it does provide more exposure to the child. Some studies suggest the child in a good environment at daycare develops as a more stronger and self-sufficient individual. Some effects of daycare on child development which may or may not be true:
1. A child attending daycare begins to explore life as a more independent individual
2. Attending a daycare helps some children become more friendly with other kids soon.
3. Daycare instructors and caretakers have an important impact on the child, so if they are calm, patient and happy always the child becomes like them else the child also gets temperament issues
4. A child attending a daycare may get more academically advanced than peers
5. The child may not be very social or family oriented
Negative effects of daycare on child development:
Though most of us have no choice but to send our kids to daycare, these negative points must be read once so that we can find solutions to these if see in our ward. Though they are not factually proved to be true, there have been some studies suggesting they do happen in a large number of kids attending a daycare. Some of these negative effects of daycare on child development are:
1. Aggressive behavior:
The children under 5 at daycare is increasing day by day. Therefore more and more such cases of aggressive behaviors are reported by daycare and also when they enter kindergarten. At age 6 most kids face a lot of trauma at kindergarten, as their experiences with daycare have made them impatient and aggressive. They are more disruptive than the kids who have stayed with their moms or grandparents all the initial years
2. Improper or low social skills:
The children who attend day care are less informed about social interactions(R) and social etiquette. This is not because they don’t want to, but because they have never been into more social time or spending time with family. They may not have even stayed apart from daycare for most days of the week. So for them, their family is confined to the daycare they attend
3. More depressed and anxious:
The children who attend daycare from early in their lives are believed to be more stressed or anxious when they grow up. Their situations from early years make them more and more anxious, as they have suffered a high level of separation anxiety and also may have disliked staying away from parents but had no choice.
4. Detached from parents and also family:
Since they spend most part of their days at daycare they are not much attached to parents. Also, parents may also be too busy to find adequate time with kids during the day.
Positive effects of daycare on child development:
While the negative effects are not scientific or factual but positive effects have been more prominent in adults who have been great achievers in their fields. Some of the positive impacts of daycare are:
1. More advanced language skills:
Since the kids are exposed to many other children and caretakers they tend to interact more and from early on in their life. Children learn quickly when they see new things around. Even it enriches their multi-cultural understanding as there are kids from diverse backgrounds and the caretakers may also be from other values and traditions. SO kids learn more and more about them
2. Improved memory:
Though it’s still not factually proved, kids attending a daycare have improved memory in terms they get to play and enjoy with more and more activities than the ones who stay at home. Structured play is more in a daycare setting and they have a proper schedule, mostly. So their memory and retention are more advanced than their peers who stay at home
3. Cognitive advancement:
Since caretakers and the daycare aim at providing cognitive development in addition to learning and enriching environment. These children have more advanced cognitive development.
4. High on self esteem and leadership skills:
Kids who attend a daycare learn to be independent soon and also get a boost in their self-esteem too
Though the benefits and drawbacks of attending a daycare have subjective errors, still there are some benefits which can be great for the child. Only if a proper caretaker and conducive environment are maintained at the daycare. It’s more about individual attending the child and her behavior which shapes most of the child’s behavior and attitudes. Thus it is very important to ask the child more and more about how they are being treated, talk to the caretakers, watch the video or camera access from daycare if any and remove the child from disruptive and unhealthy environment.
The above compilation on Effects of daycare on child development and future behaviors is to help us all learn about how to make the best of day acre and how to prevent the negative impacts by keeping a close check on our child’s behavioral advancements. It’s not important to be with children all the time, but a few healthy and happy hours in a week and daily 15-20 minutes of heart to heart interaction with the child, covers for all.
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