Do children get any benefit from attending day care centres?

More and more parents send their young children to day care centres these days. The reasons for this are often financial. Some parents require two salaries in order to provide their child or children with the lifestyle they want them to have.

Sometimes it is a matter of career. Nowadays, women tend to be older when they start a family than they were in past times. They often hold senior, well-paid, satisfying posts. If they give these up in order to look after young children at home, it is likely that they will lose their place on the career ladder.

Whatever the reason, or reasons, sending their child to a day care centre is of obvious benefit to the parents. It makes them able to go to work, and to do so with a fairly clear conscience. But does day care attendance bring any benefits to the children?

Some people claim that attendance at a day care centre bestows on children an excellent opportunity to get a head start in life. They feel that young children are more likely to develop as well as possible in the structured learning environment of a day care centre. They also feel that being in such an environment from a very early age helps children to cope with preschool and school later on.

Of course, the environment for very young children should not be too structured. Most of the learning is provided in a form that children will find fun-painting and drawing, storytelling, singing and drama.

People often point to the advantages to be had from children being with other children from an early age in day care centres. The children have to learn how to communicate with the other children in the day care centre and this can greatly improve their vocabulary.

Children who are with other children on a day-to-day basis must not only learn to communicate with each other. They also need to automatically learn the importance of give- and-take in relationships. Of course, they probably will not appreciate this at the time. Still, it is useful to learn at an early age that we cannot always get what we want and do as we wish.

Children in close contact with each other in a day care centre must also learn the importance of sharing. They obviously cannot all have use of a particular toy at one time and they must learn not to fight or quarrel over it. They must also learn to take turns at doing something, such as wearing a dressing-up costume or going down a slide.

Day care centres in many countries have to have a licence. This means that they have to be of a high standard with a high ratio of trained staff to children. Parents should have no fears about sending their children to such centres. However, there are always exceptions to rules and it is the responsibility of parents to make sure their children are safe and happy at the day nursery of their choice.

People who are not in favour of day care centres allege that children who attend them miss out because of the lack of time they spend with their parents. It is up to parents to make sure that this does not happen. They must ensure that they spend sufficient enjoyable time with their children.

However tired they are after a hard day at work, parents must show good humour and pleasure when they pick up their children from the day nursery. Children need the benefits of home as well as those of the day care centre.