My oldest was in day care from age 1 to age 3. Then in preschool from ae 3 to 4, before starting kindergarten. I think he did just fine. He actually started at 1 because I wanted him to, even though a few months later, I ended up working there!
He never ever, ever, gets sick, and I SWEAR it was because he was in day care. The other 2 get sick a lot and they never set foot in one!
I think the article has a lot of good points, many I have seen first hand in the many years of working in day cares and preschools. When a parent came in 4 out of 5 days in a bad mood, then that usually was the mood of that child 4 out of 5 days. The children of parents that were almost always happy, had children who were the same.
I am not sure about the education factor. I have had many kids in my classes with parents with very high educations and many with none beyond high school (and all those in between) and I can not say that one demographic was specific to a certain type of child/family.

If I could afford it, I would probably put Wyatt in day care a couple times a week, just so he gets around other kids! 

Becka+Chris= Nick 8 Michele 5 Wyatt 18 months
www.learnandgrowtogether.com

I think both tne benefits and risks of daycare are exaggerated. There are just too many variables in a family's life for blanket statements in my opinion.

That is a strange article since it states some generalizations and then spends a good deal of space focusing on just one example.

One thing that struck me though is the paltry wages of child care workers. I understand that raising those wages would up the overall cost and make it so many could not afford to send their kids, but it is sad that taking care of children is a job so undervalued. (And yes, the same should be said about teachers.)

Diane Rehm interviewed the authors of this cited $200 million dollars (of your taxes at work) study back in March 2007. The study was published quite a bit before that and done back in the 1990s. So the study is not new news, but the one that the media use over and over when they want to talk about day care effects. Lots of interpretations of the data by lots of people since then, of course. It was observational, not double blind controled. Therefore, it did not prove that putting your child in day care would make little difference than raising him yourself. THe study does not claim that, given the way it was done. It did say that they could not tell whether an individual child was raised in day care or by their parents. And the study DID show A FEW differences, though not many. Children raised in day care showed a significant difference (not large) in their aggressiveness and increased problem behaviors over chldren raised by parents. Also, large day care centers, rather than small in home care showed differences. So it showed that size matters. It also showed that the relationship the care giver had with the child , that is the amount of social and emotional support the caregiver gave the child was significant on his development. Therefore, ONLY if the child care has an equal emotional relationship to the child as the parent would have, then there is no significant difference.

Like lots of large studies, the data is there. What data was studied, and how it was summarized, is open to interpretation.

If factors like the emotional relationship the caregiver has to the child. THe education of the caregiver. The values of the caregiver. THe loving manner of the caregiver. Are are controlled, and one is looking at ONLY whether the caregiver is a parent or a day care, there is no difference. If you find a day care provider as smart, articulate, loving, experienced, and emotionally bonded as you the parent are, then OF COURSE, go for it. Drop off the child! The study finds few differences in the blood relativeness, only in the manner in which the children are treated. Makes sense really.

About the sickness issue, I guess it depends on whether you would rather have a sick baby, sick preschooler, or sick elementary schooler. Whenever they go into group care, they will get sick from it. My pediatrician used to laugh when SAHMs brought their toddlers in for their well visits because their charts were miniscule compared to the day care kids' fat tomes. "It'll change when they go to school" she'd say. But doesn't always happen then. Healthy start often translates to overall healthiness later in life.

I response to A1 Mama, children who go to daycare are still raised by their parents. To say that a child is "raised in daycare" implies that the parents of those children have abdicated their responsibilities and are somehow not real parents. I went to daycare, but I have no doubt about who raised me, and neither will my daughter.

I agree. My son was in day care and I surely did raise him. In fact, I had him reciting his ABC's by 18 months, knowing colors, letters etc by 15 months, and reading by 3. He also potty trained himself at 2.5. All while being in day care. I did these things at home, because I knew that was MY responsibility as his first teacher. 

Day care did not raise him!

Becka+Chris= Nick 8 Michele 5 Wyatt 18 months
www.learnandgrowtogether.com

I am so glad! You'd be surprised by how many parents don't raise their kids--whether they are in day care OR at home.

LOL after 17 years of working with day cares and preschools NOTHING surprises me! Especially when parents have come to me and literally screamed at me, because their child does not know anything...wen they thmselves do nothing at home with them! 

Becka+Chris= Nick 8 Michele 5 Wyatt 18 months
www.learnandgrowtogether.com