The more than 1,000 moms and dads who responded to our childcare survey in last September's issue are just like millions of other parents nationwide: They cherish what's good about their daycare situation, and worry about what's not. The good news is that many of them feel there's a lot to celebrate [MDASH] more than a third wouldn't change a thing about their caregiver.
Why should they, when much of the most recent research on childcare is reassuring: Infants in childcare are just as attached to their mothers as those who are cared for at home. There are no significant differences in the intelligence, health, or behavior of kids whose mothers work versus those whose moms don't. Good daycare boosts kids' intellectual and emotional development. And 39 percent of the care received by infants and toddlers in the U.S. is rated good to excellent, according to an ongoing federal study that has been looking at childcare arrangements since 1991.
Yet even parents who are happy with their choice seem ambivalent about using it. More than a third of the respondents to our survey wished they could stay home with their child. Many parents also wrote about their continuing search for the right caregiver. Like the mom from Jackson, MI, whose 20-month-old had already had three different providers, readers wondered if other people had these kinds of stories. In fact, this scenario is all too typical, says Faith Wohl, a children's advocate with the Child Care Action Campaign, in New York City, and one of this year's [I {Parenting}] Leaders. "Families wind up changing childcare more often than they want."
It's true that some are fortunate enough to find good providers right away. But as the parents we've profiled show, sometimes landing the right person is more a matter of luck [MDASH] a chance encounter provides a great lead, or the type of care changes and the child is old enough to thrive in the new situation. Getting there is tougher than it should be, partly because more than half of the childcare for infants and toddlers is adequate at best, according to recent federal studies. Although abuse [MDASH] every parent's nightmare [MDASH] is rare, too often the caregiving in this country is mediocre. So it's better than we fear, but still less than our children deserve.
Harriet Brown is the author of The Good-Bye Window: A Year in the Life of a Day-Care Center.
