Flipping through some news stories online the other day I came across the following story from the New York Times:
Poor Behavior Linked to Time in Day Care
Wow, now there’s a headline that should stop a lot of parents in their tracks. Several thoughts went through my mind when I read it:
- Wait, my daughter is in day care! What have I done?
- Is it too late to save her? Should I pull her out now??
Ok, take a deep breath. As the first paragraph says, a study did find that “keeping a preschooler in a day care center for a year or more increased the likelihood that the child would become disruptive in class—and that the effect persisted through the sixth grade.”
Gosh, that sounds bad. But wait, here comes the second paragraph to explain further:
The effect was slight, and well within the normal range for healthy children, the researchers found. And as expected, parents’ guidance and their genes had by far the strongest influence on how children behaved.
Wait, that doesn’t sound so bad. Actually, it sounds like this really is a non-issue. However, the hits keep coming:
On the positive side, they also found that time spent in high-quality day care centers was correlated with higher vocabulary scores through elementary school.
Confused yet? Let me break it down: the study found that there’s a slight chance that day care might contribute to a child being disruptive in class. However, this chance was “well within the normal range for healthy children,” so it’s not as if you’d be able to determine which kids in a classroom went to day care. Many other factors contribute, like parents’ guidance and genetics. Oh, and kids who go to day care tend to do well on vocabulary tests. So where’s the negative again?
What bothers me about this article is not the story, but the headline. It’s disheartening that the New York Times, a leader in “respected” media, has resorted to using misleading headlines, something I’d expect something like this from a television news show. In fact, a friend told me he’s already seen this story on TV (“Is Day Care Hurting Your Kids? Tune in at 11:00 to find out!”).
The issue of day care versus home care is right up there with disposable versus cloth diapers. There are valid points on both sides and it’s important that families have as much information as possible so they can choose the solution that works for them. But we need facts, not Chicken Little warning us about falling skies. Would I keep my daughter home if I could? Sure, in a perfect world where her mother and I didn’t have to work. Heck show me a parent who wouldn’t want to spend more time with his child. But in the real world, we’ll keep sending our daughter to the day care center we researched and evaluated before sending her. The same center whose staff we trust and respect and the same center where she gets to spend time with other children.
So, no the sky isn’t falling. And, yes, it’s still up to parents to guide children as they figure out their places in the world. But somehow I doubt we’ll be seeing that story on the 11 o’clock news.