Briefly trace the emergence of day cares or as the text states, "the history of child care matters." (p. 360). How important a role do they play in our society?
Lascarides & Hinitz provide the original definition of 'day care' as referring to "welfare covering all types of daytime sservices for the group care of children" (p. 359). Later, it referred to full day programs set up for children whose parents work. Now it refers to a variety of ways children are cared for by relatives, professional educators and others. The history of day care begins with the 'baby farms' where children were crowded into unsanitary rooms with little supervision. These rooms were unregulated by any standard and unfortunately, this practice continues in the twenty-first century.
Day care in the United States began in 1863 in Pennsylvania. During the Civil War, men went to war and women were needed in the factories to manufacture clothing for soldiers. This also happened during World War II. It is important to note that day care was not utilized by families unless there was a crisis with the justification that day care was damaging to children. It was only utilized by a small percentage of working mothers. The early day cares were designed to keep children out of orphanages and institutions. There was a lack of support for the day care industry. It appears that this perception may not have changed very much even today.
During the post Civil War time, day care became a change agent for social reform. Stories of mothers leaving children home alone to fend for themselves led to the formation of regulatory services. By 1919, day care became a key part of the social welfare system. The influx of immigration brought about a number of complications for these individuals were not familiar with American life. Very few states had licensed day cares which led to sanitation and health problems for children and families.
It was not until the 1920's that early educators began to see the need for day care to meet the needs of children physically, emotionally, intellectually and socially. This led to the establishment of day care associations which led to improved child and parent education. Children's needs began to matter! It is at this time that day care had a two-fold reason for existence; affluent children would receive designed educational care and working -class children would receive custodial care in charitable day cares (Rose, 1999). It is at this time that women welcomed their own independence while being able to depend on day cares to provide educational programs for their children. By enhancing children's development rather than enabling mothers to earn, day care developed an attractive rationale for providing care for children (p. 100).
The debate over whether to send children to day care or not continues. In fact, the National Federation of Day Nurseries in 1931 printed in their bulletin "...that day care ought to be the last choice in the care of children..." (Steinfels, 1973, p. 66). A 1943 Gallup Poll reported that 56 percent of mothers would not use government day care centers even if they were provided free (Berry, 1993, p. 108). Group day care during the late 1940's and 1950's remained unpopular. Even Dr. Benjamin Spock declared in the 1947 and 1958 editions of Baby and Child Care that "...it doesn't make sense to have mothers pay other people to do a poorer job of bringing up their own children" (Cahan, 1989, p. 31).
Day care gained further acceptance due to the growing association that day care was educational and thus benefited children. At the same time, the United States government legitimized day care by providing childcare programs to compel welfare mothers to work to get off public assistance. The use of daycare increases and it is hard to imagine, but only as recently as the mid 1960's, most states with legislation regulating day care refused even to license facilities for children under three years old (Siegel, 2001, p. 47). The noun, "day care", did not even appear in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, until 1993, the tenth edition.
Independent studies sugges that good day care for non-infants is not harmful (Erel, Oberman, & Yirmiya, 2000). In some cases, good day care can provide different experiences than parental care does, especially when children reach two and aare ready to inteact with other children. However, bad day care can put a child at physical and emotional risk. The National Institute of Health released a study in March, 2007 after following a group of children through early childhood to the 6th grade. The study found that the children who received a higher quality of child care scored higher on 5th grade vocabulary tests than the children who had attended child care of a lower quality. The study also reported that teachers found children from day care to be disobedient, fight more frequently, and more argumentative. The study reported the increases in aggression and vocabulary were small. Another study appearing in Child Development (2003) found that the amount of time spent in day care before four-and-a-half tended to correspond with the child's tendency to be less likely to get along with others, to be disobedient, and to be aggressive, although still within the normal range.
Throughout time, day care was transformed from a charity for desperately poor families to a widespread need of many families, and a legitimate public responsibility. Lascarides & Hinitz state that the themes in the 1990's and 2000's are "increased professional standards, quality issues, and expanded professional development" (p. 373). Day care, however, has certainly come a long way and illustrates that children do matter.
References
Berry, M. (1993). The politics of parenthood. Alfred Knopf.
Blackwell Synergy, (2003). Child care linked to assertive, noncompliant, and aggressive behaviors vast majority of children within normal range, Child Development, 74(4), 976- 1005.
Cahan, E. (1989). From past caring, a history of U.S. preschool care and education for the poor, 1820-1965. Washington, D.C.: National Center for Children in Poverty.
Erel, O., Oberman, Y., & Yirmiya, N. (2000). Maternal versus nonmaternal care and seven domains of children's development, Psychological Bulletin, 126(5), 727-747.
Lascarides, V., & Hinitz, B. (2000). History of Early Childhood Education. New York: Falmer Press.
Rose, E. (1999). A mother's job: The history of day care, 1890-1960. New York: Oxford University Press.
Siegel, C. (2001). What's wrong with day care: Freeing parents to raise their own children. Teachers College Press.
Steinfels, M. (1973). Who's minding the children. New York: Simon & Schuster.
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Lascarides & Hinitz provide the original definition of 'day care' as referring to "welfare covering all types of daytime sservices for the group care of children" (p. 359). Later, it referred to full day programs set up for children whose parents work. Now it refers to a variety of ways children are cared for by relatives, professional educators and others. The history of day care begins with the 'baby farms' where children were crowded into unsanitary rooms with little supervision. These rooms were unregulated by any standard and unfortunately, this practice continues in the twenty-first century.
Day care in the United States began in 1863 in Pennsylvania. During the Civil War, men went to war and women were needed in the factories to manufacture clothing for soldiers. This also happened during World War II. It is important to note that day care was not utilized by families unless there was a crisis with the justification that day care was damaging to children. It was only utilized by a small percentage of working mothers. The early day cares were designed to keep children out of orphanages and institutions. There was a lack of support for the day care industry. It appears that this perception may not have changed very much even today.
During the post Civil War time, day care became a change agent for social reform. Stories of mothers leaving children home alone to fend for themselves led to the formation of regulatory services. By 1919, day care became a key part of the social welfare system. The influx of immigration brought about a number of complications for these individuals were not familiar with American life. Very few states had licensed day cares which led to sanitation and health problems for children and families.
It was not until the 1920's that early educators began to see the need for day care to meet the needs of children physically, emotionally, intellectually and socially. This led to the establishment of day care associations which led to improved child and parent education. Children's needs began to matter! It is at this time that day care had a two-fold reason for existence; affluent children would receive designed educational care and working -class children would receive custodial care in charitable day cares (Rose, 1999). It is at this time that women welcomed their own independence while being able to depend on day cares to provide educational programs for their children. By enhancing children's development rather than enabling mothers to earn, day care developed an attractive rationale for providing care for children (p. 100).
The debate over whether to send children to day care or not continues. In fact, the National Federation of Day Nurseries in 1931 printed in their bulletin "...that day care ought to be the last choice in the care of children..." (Steinfels, 1973, p. 66). A 1943 Gallup Poll reported that 56 percent of mothers would not use government day care centers even if they were provided free (Berry, 1993, p. 108). Group day care during the late 1940's and 1950's remained unpopular. Even Dr. Benjamin Spock declared in the 1947 and 1958 editions of Baby and Child Care that "...it doesn't make sense to have mothers pay other people to do a poorer job of bringing up their own children" (Cahan, 1989, p. 31).
Day care gained further acceptance due to the growing association that day care was educational and thus benefited children. At the same time, the United States government legitimized day care by providing childcare programs to compel welfare mothers to work to get off public assistance. The use of daycare increases and it is hard to imagine, but only as recently as the mid 1960's, most states with legislation regulating day care refused even to license facilities for children under three years old (Siegel, 2001, p. 47). The noun, "day care", did not even appear in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, until 1993, the tenth edition.
Independent studies sugges that good day care for non-infants is not harmful (Erel, Oberman, & Yirmiya, 2000). In some cases, good day care can provide different experiences than parental care does, especially when children reach two and aare ready to inteact with other children. However, bad day care can put a child at physical and emotional risk. The National Institute of Health released a study in March, 2007 after following a group of children through early childhood to the 6th grade. The study found that the children who received a higher quality of child care scored higher on 5th grade vocabulary tests than the children who had attended child care of a lower quality. The study also reported that teachers found children from day care to be disobedient, fight more frequently, and more argumentative. The study reported the increases in aggression and vocabulary were small. Another study appearing in Child Development (2003) found that the amount of time spent in day care before four-and-a-half tended to correspond with the child's tendency to be less likely to get along with others, to be disobedient, and to be aggressive, although still within the normal range.
Throughout time, day care was transformed from a charity for desperately poor families to a widespread need of many families, and a legitimate public responsibility. Lascarides & Hinitz state that the themes in the 1990's and 2000's are "increased professional standards, quality issues, and expanded professional development" (p. 373). Day care, however, has certainly come a long way and illustrates that children do matter.
References
Berry, M. (1993). The politics of parenthood. Alfred Knopf.
Blackwell Synergy, (2003). Child care linked to assertive, noncompliant, and aggressive
behaviors vast majority of children within normal range, Child Development, 74(4), 976-
1005.
Cahan, E. (1989). From past caring, a history of U.S. preschool care and education for the
poor, 1820-1965. Washington, D.C.: National Center for Children in Poverty.
Erel, O., Oberman, Y., & Yirmiya, N. (2000). Maternal versus nonmaternal care and seven
domains of children's development, Psychological Bulletin, 126(5), 727-747.
Lascarides, V., & Hinitz, B. (2000). History of Early Childhood Education. New York: Falmer
Press.
Rose, E. (1999). A mother's job: The history of day care, 1890-1960. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Siegel, C. (2001). What's wrong with day care: Freeing parents to raise their own children.
Teachers College Press.
Steinfels, M. (1973). Who's minding the children. New York: Simon & Schuster.
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