I propose that Christian parents should not put kids in secular daycare. The childcare service industry- public and private - is continually rising. According to a recent report by the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), 63 percent of the nation's children under five years of age are in some type of child-care arrangement every week; and most parents assume such programs are regulated to ensure the health and safety of their children. In reality, that is often not the case...
Stanley Greenspan, George Washington University child psychiatrist, spoke about the current state of day care. An estimated 12 million American infants, toddlers and preschoolers—more than half of children in this age group—attend day care. The majority of these kids spend close to 40 hours per week in day care; many start when they are only weeks old. In 2011 another study was done that showed 32.7 million children who were in childcare outside of the home. According to the NACCRRA, the quality of care a child receives during the first five years of life is critical because 90 percent of brain development occurs during those years. “Forty-six percent of kindergarten teachers report that at least half of their students are not prepared to learn.” The findings show that kids who spend long hours in day care have behavior problems that persist well into elementary school. About 26 percent of children who spend more than 45 hours per week in day care go on to have serious behavior problems at kindergarten age. Children who spent less time still had significant comparable problems. According to a recently released study, the longer children spend in child care and away from their mothers, the more likely they are to be overly aggressive by the time they reach kindergarten. I worked in the Federal HeadStart program and have observed private, public, and Montessori pre-schools. Childcare always left a bad connotation in my mind. Headstart gave me a new – and positive – perspective on a daycare-preschool with its high standards and regulations ( I am continually impressed with the way things are run). However, I continue to hold to the idea that my kids will not be placed in childcare if I can keep from it. I have had many other experiences which leave me in disgust with child care facilities. The quality of care is greatly lessened in child care facilities of any type compared to staying at home with your children. For example, you know the child well, while the daycare worker would not. The attention given is also not what a small child needs. I recently saw a photo of quintuplets that were just born. I cannot imagine waking up in the middle of the night, looking into a crib, and seeing all five of those babies crying for my attention. I’d probably go crazy. It is beyond me how any parent raises that many at a time. While in any given daycare setting you can double to triple that, and such is the amount of kids demanding the attention of ONE adult. Cleanliness is also a big factor. There are some preschools I have been in which seem to have a layer of dirt over the facility and the children. This is where parents place their children every day? Clutter and dirt are naturally found with children, but such should not be the case in a childcare facility. I had one experience in a preschool where I was picking up a child and the worker had just finished changing another child’s diaper yet continued to hand another child their snack without handwashing between. A study on Daycare and Children’s Health shows how Center-based daycare is related to children’s health problems. Compared with peers who were cared for at home, preschoolers who attended daycare centers used health-care services more often. Daycare children were at greater risk of contracting both minor communicable illnesses and more significant medical problems such as hepatitis, injuries, and chronic otitis media (ear infections). They were three times more likely to have made at least one visit to a doctor’s office, twice as likely to have visited an emergency room, and almost three times as likely to have received a prescription medication. This increased use of health services resulted in health-care expenditures for daycare children that were, on average, $343 higher per child each year.10 In your own home, you’re in control of influence compared to sending your children to the care of someone else for the majority of their time. Psalms 127, “As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.” Children are easily influenced when young. You would be in control of the influence of principles taught, the children, and workers around them compared to another setting. Center-Based Daycare and Children’s Behavior. Children who attended daycare centers tend to exhibit more behavioral problems. Children who spend more time in daycare are more likely to exhibit negative behavior. What daycare costs “I have to work so I cannot watch my children at home.” Maybe requires less of a lifestyle that they desire, but any family could stay at home if that was their priority. Is it really the cost of living or the cost of childcare? The majority of families’ second income is simply paying for the childcare they are receiving so the second parent is able to work. This is with single parenting aside. Study shown of 19,839 children in childcare, 13,697 of those were from married, dual-parent homes. So that means only a little over 6,000 come from single parent homes. (30%) The more education the mother received, the higher the possibility of the child being placed in childcare. The cost of childcare could cost your children. What is it worth to you? Daycare also causes a lack of parental involvement/presence Extensive daycare experience in the first year of life is associated with infants having an insecure attachment with their mothers. Of infants who experienced more than 20 hours a week of non-maternal care, 43 percent were classified as “insecure”. Daycare/preschool provides limited time together during some of the most influential years of a child’s life. On average, children spend about 40 hours a week in day care, about 65 hours sleeping which leaves about 63 hours a week to spend with their parents – that is if their parents don’t make other arrangements. On one occasion, I witnessed a little girl who got dropped off at a daycare at 6 a.m., picked up by another babysitter at 6 p.m., and was there all evening. The only parental involvement she had was in the evening as they put her in bed only to wake up the next day and do it all over again. Consequently, the only discipline children get is at daycare/preschool as with limited time with their parents, they feel guilty and tend to spoil their children. Train up a child… -Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. What are they getting taught in a preschool or daycare? Daycare emphasizes feelings and how to deal with them. -Proverbs 3.5, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Daycare teaches them to feel good about themselves/Self-esteem - Matthew 16.24, “Then Jesus said unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Daycare encourages positive reinforcement and redirecting -Proverbs 13.24, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” The quantity of time spent in daycare in infancy and preschool years was linked to children’s subsequent school performance and behavior. You are to train up your child – not anyone else. The responsibility is on the parents. -Titus 2.4-5, “ That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.” -Deuteronomy 6.6-7, “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” -Psalm 78:5-6, “For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:” So for the future of the next generation, this is (just a few reasons) why I believe Christian parents should not place their children in secular childcare.
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January 2023
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