Many mothers have to return to work when their children are at least a year old because of financial, personal or professional necessity. This means that, their kids have to spend most of their time during their development stage in day care centre. The care a child receives and the environment they grow up in strongly influences their development and their future behaviors. Day care centres play a very important role in a child’s emotional and social development. A child’s care affects a lot of children in the society since how they are cared for during their development stage highly affects their social life and determines their future behavior in the society.
The effects of day care on child development and their future behaviors is a controversial topic since researchers come up with contradicting results, some say it brings positive outcomes while others argue that it has negative outcomes. Day care is linked to negative effects of child development and future behaviors. It is mainly associated with problematic behaviors, aggression, conflicts and social incompetence. Many have come to a conclusion that as much as day care programs have negative effects on a child’s development and their future behaviors, there are still quality day cares that enhances positive outcomes in children by promoting their emotional and social wellbeing. Therefore, day cares have both negative and positive outcomes on the development and future behavior of a child.
Current research on children who spend long hours in day cares indicates that, they become adults who form shallow attachments and it is very hard for them to see others as people rather they see them as objects. This is because; they do not spend sufficient time with their parents and only spend it with caregivers who are unaffectionate and cold to them. They grow up with a notion that people should not be affectionate to others and they might even end up not treating their own children with love and affection. Gonzalez-Mena argues that, children who spend longer hours in day cares other than with their parent exhibit problematic social behaviors in their childhood through adolescence to adulthood. According to Gonzalez-Mena, the more time a child spends in a day care, the more stressful they become since they do not have their parents to take care of them and the cold reception they get from their caregivers leads them into becoming aggressive and disobedient and they develop more behavioral problems in the future (Gonzalez-Mena 48). She again argues that, children who spend time in day care centers are three times likely to exhibit behavioral problems in pre-school compare to those primarily cared for by their own mothers.
Even though day cares are said to bring negative effects to a child’s development and future behaviors, on the flip side of the coin, day cares can be a good opportunity for a child to learn how to speak and expand their vocabulary. Moreover, children who spend time in group child care develop better mathematics and reading skills compared to those brought up by their own parents. A study done by Shpancer reveals that, children who spend longer hours in day care did not have more behavior problems than other children. Shpancer argues that, day cares are the best places for a child to learn how to interact with other children, day care centre help children to improve their skills in making friends, communicating well with each other, and they also learn how to speak well through their communication with the other children in the day care (Shpancer 230). Their day-to-day interaction with each other makes them feel comfortable around each other and they learn to share with their friends. Additionally, they acquire valuable and exceptional knowledge and skills which they carry on to kindergarten and later grade school. They also develop their language skills since they communicate to each other more often
According to Berns (112), a child who has spent time in a day care centre is more socially competent compared to a child who has no experience in a childcare. This is because, they interact a lot with their each other and share a lot and this makes them social. Furthermore, they are more self confident, outgoing and less fearful since they learn to interact with a group of people at a very tender age. Besides, they become more independent in the future compared to the children who were primarily brought up by their mothers and they become self-confident in everything they do since they learnt the hard way.
In essence, a child’s family plays a very important role in their development and their future behavior by the way they interact with them. It should be noted that, according to the many researches done on the topic of the effects of day care and maternal care on child development and their future behavior have varying outcomes (Shpancer 227). Therefore, parents should take the initiative of training their kids into becoming good role models in the society by exhibiting good behaviors regardless of whether they are brought up maternally or in day cares.
Works Cited
Berns, Roberta. Child, family, school, community socialization and support. Belmont, CA. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2013. Print.
Gonzalez-Mena, Janet. Infants, Toddlers, and Caregivers: A Curriculum of Respectful, Responsive, Relationship-Based Care and Education. New York: McGraw, 2012. Print.
Shpancer, Noam. "The effects of daycare: Persistent questions, elusive answers.” Early Childhood Research Quarterly 21.2, (2006): 227–237. Print
