Day Care Disrespect

"In March, a study was published in Science magazine that contained remarkable statistics about the effects of good child care on later life. Briefly, it was found that not only did people who received stimulating, appropriate care in their earliest days have stronger cognitive abilities, compared to a control group who did not, they were also notably healthier physically once they reached adulthood. This study makes plain what logic has always dictated but what we in the United States don't always act on at the institutional level. Good child care from the earliest days — both at home and when the parents are at work — is absolutely crucial to the development of healthy, productive adults." So writes Katherine Rose in a Huffington Post blog called "Day Care Disrespect: What We Call Child Care Matters."

Rose continues: "The authors of the study use the term 'high quality early childhood program' to describe the kind of care that the children who grew up to be healthier received. But when the story was reported in the New York Times, the paper used the term 'full-time day care' to describe the program. For those of us in the field of early childhood development, the term day care, so common that even an august institution like the New York Times would use it...is a maddening phrase. Here's why: the term day care diminishes how complex and nuanced offering good quality child care is."

Source: "Day Care Disrespect: Why What We Call Child Care Matters," by Katherine Rose, Huffington Post Blog, July 19, 2014

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