The Day Care Dilemma

Over the years, there has been a shift in the role that mothers typically play in a child’s life. Currently, one in four children is cared for by a grandparent or relative. One in six children is cared for by a father. One in five children is cared for by a non-relative such as a babysitter or a family day care (i.e., a day care operated out of an individual’s home). In addition, there has been an increase in the use of day care centers in the United States. For instance, one in four children attends a child care center or preschool. Although no negative effects of day care have been found for toddlers and preschoolers, the research is mixed when it comes to infants, which may be partly why companies in countries such as Canada and Sweden offer year-long maternity leave.

For toddlers and preschoolers, day care can have a number of benefits. If the quality of care is high, day care can promote cognitive and social development in children. Research has shown benefits such as increased curiosity, better concentration, and improved on-task behavior across all income groups who attend day care. Children in day care have also been found to be more socially competent and independent. However, the debate still continues regarding day care for children under one year of age.

Two blog postings ago, I wrote about attachment during infancy. Attachment research has demonstrated that infants are able to discriminate between or among primary caregivers, and they can become attached to more than one caregiver. An attachment to a babysitter or day care provider will not prevent an infant from forming a secure attachment to his or her mother and/or father. However, a caveat does exist as some studies have shown that if an infant is separated from his or her mother for more than 20 hours a week, the attachment process can be disrupted.

Some studies have also shown that infants who begin day care before the age of two may be more aggressive, less responsive to adults, less socialized and less mature than children who did not attend day care and had a secure attachment with a primary caregiver. Usually when parents who have duties outside of their home decide to leave their infants in full-time day care it is after a few months of their child’s birth, when maternity or paternity leave has expired. During the child’s waking hours, he or she will have little contact with his or her parents which interferes with the attachment process. Because attachment is not as firmly established before the age of two, the interference is more traumatic and longer lasting than with an older child who is separated from his or her parents for extended periods of time.

Thus, the question of whether day care is harmful to infants is a difficult one to answer because a number of factors need to be considered such as the quality, type of care, timing, age of child and quantity of care. Many infants who attended day care are well-adjusted and have secure attachments, and “quality of time spent” is a likely contributor. If your infant does attend day care, it is recommended that the amount of time spent with your child is of high quality. Numerous studies have shown that the quantity of time spent with a child is not nearly as important as the quality of time spent.

For tips on finding high quality day care during infancy, please visit:

http://www.suite101.com/content/finding-daycare-for-infants-a50999

The Wonderful World of Language

One of the most remarkable accomplishments of early childhood is the development of language. Even more extraordinary are those children who become proficient in more than one language. However in the past, childhood bilingualism has been met with skepticism and criticism from parents, educators, and other experts due to conflicting beliefs about the impact of learning more than one language simultaneously. Initially, my parents spoke their native language to me but decided that once I started school, I might get confused so they stopped speaking Hindi to me. Thus, I developed bilingual language skills later in life when it was much more time consuming and difficult.

All children are capable of learning more than one language during early childhood, and research has shown that there is a critical period in early childhood during which language is learned most readily. Brain plasticity is largely responsible for this phenomenon. Brain plasticity can be defined as the learning that takes place as new cells are developed in the brain (there is an increase in the density of synaptic connections around the time of a child’s vocabulary spurt). Thus, infants have inborn abilities and predispositions that help them detect information needed for language learning. Along with these innate abilities, the environment also plays a large role in language acquisition. Without exposure to language, children cannot even begin to learn to speak. Given the fact that brain pathways are so receptive to language during the first 4 years of life, children should be exposed to languages very early in development.

Many parents are concerned about confusion if they teach a child two languages before the child has even mastered the primary one. One aspect of bilingual language development is mixing of the languages. Research has demonstrated that it is normal for young children to mix both languages due to their limited vocabulary. In fact, it is actually very common for adult bilinguals to mix languages. Most people will find that it is extremely difficult to keep the languages separate. The social context that the child is in determines how much the child will mix the two languages (i.e., if the child is around someone who speaks both languages, he is more likely to mix the two languages). The mixing of words will likely pass once the child is 4 or 5 and has built a large enough vocabulary. I once had lunch with a 4-year-old child who was able to speak French with his mother, Bengali with his father, and English with me. In fact, learning and maintaining the language of one’s parents is an integral component to developing one’s cultural and ethnic identity as well as sense of belonging. Abruptly ceasing the use of one of the languages by a child’s parents may lead to emotional and psychological difficulties for the child. Language is linked with emotion and identity, and abandoning a language can be quite traumatic for a child.

Other disadvantages to bilingualism may include speech delay (e.g., bilingual children may start talking 3-6 months later than their peers). In addition, once children start attending school and are exposed less to their native language, parents may have to put in more effort at home to reduce any language loss. However, research has shown that learning more than one language does not lead to significant delays or disorders in language acquisition. There are a number of benefits to bilingualism such as a) superior reading and writing skills in both languages, b) higher analytical, social, and academic skills, c) increased performance on cognitive tests, and d) sounding like a native when speaking. When children maintain their bilingualism, they gain a deeper understanding of language and how to use it more effectively. Research has also shown that children may develop more flexibility in their thinking due to processing information through two different languages.

For parenting tips on how to raise a bilingual child, please visit:
http://www.brainy-child.com/article/bilingual.shtml

For information on immersion schools, please visit:
http://www.publicschoolreview.com/articles/25
http://www.ericdigests.org/2004-4/parents.htm