News

“Study Finds That Effects of Low-Quality Child Care Last Into Adolescence”

“Good Child Care Has Benefits That Last Into High School-But Free Play Is Important”

These headlines are both reporting on the same study. The study was done by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development following 1,324 children from one month of age to almost 20. Although we rarely see studies that follow kids for 20 years to assess the effects of child care on their development, we have a great deal of data that says the same thing.

Good child care is good for children and bad child care is bad for children.

It would be nice if we could just all agree on this and spend the money going for research and data collection on underwriting the salaries and training of child care staff. That is how we increase the quality of child care for all kids.

Susan Vessels