Quality Child Care Offers Lifelong Benefits

When searching for child care, parents need to be aware that quality child care matters. 

Concern about child care and it's effect on children began developing as more families of young children relied on these services to support their employment and family finances. From this interest, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) designed and began implementing a longitudinal study related to child care and it's effects on the children in care. Researchers began collecting data on the children from 1 month of age until the children reached the age of 15 (1991-2007). 

In 2010 the results of this study revealed that high quality child care had a positive influence on the children's cognitive and academic achievement. Additionally, the children in quality child care settings exhibited less negative behaviors such as harm to self, others or property than the children who spent time in poor quality child care settings as young children. Quality was defined as a caregiver who was warm and caring, responsive to the child's interests and provided a variety of materials to promote learning in addition to adult:child ratios, group size and the care giver's education level. 

As a child care provider who offers a quality child care program, you can share with parents the long term benefits of choosing quality child care settings for their children. 

For more information about how to select a quality child care setting read our post: Finding Quality Child Care for Your Child