The Effects of Daycare on Early Years Essays - Human Development

The Effects of Daycare on Early Years Kerrice Lawrence Nov 22, 2012 PSYC 361 There has been a growing trend towards relying on day cares by parents to look after children usually at a te nder age. Children experience significant development at this tender age. Thus, the environment and the people they spend their time with , generally affects them greatly. Experiences at this age stage of a person' development may determine his future character and social abilities. More and more people appreciate this, leading to further research on early childhood development. Some suggest that time that a child spends in a day care may break or make a child's future (Morrison, 2012 ). This paper looks at how the use of day cares has affected and impacted how children socialize. Attending a day care may affect how a child rela tes with its parent and affec t a child's own p ersonal abilities to socialize. These sensitive issues have led to a lot of study in these areas. It is essential to appreciate the main arguments for and against the use of day care centers. This can help one to take care of children and know what can be done to remedy the possible ill e ffects of using such services. This is a crucial topic as all human beings should be sociable, and expected to behave in a certain way while dealing with other people. There are many known consequences, both positive and negative, of sending children to care centers. Some of these consequences may have an impact on a child's temperament , which can make the child be in a state of discord and disharmon y with the community (Belsky Pluess, 2012) . Research i n this area has suggested several ways in which parents can influence how children socialize. It is essenti al to understand the impact of care centers on children's social skills, so as to develop appropriate solutions. Many parents find it more convenient to continue with their daily occupations than to take care of their children thus, take them to daycare programs to be attended by custodians. Daycare program entails letting the child 's early development be influenced by other individual s outside the immediate family. Nowadays there are an increasing number of employed women bear ing children, and with this many of them are putting their children in daycare programs (Peisner-Feinberg, Burchinal, Clifford, Culkin, Howes, Kagan Yazejian, 2001) . In relation to child attachment and the advantages of a stimulating environment on their early years, it is also crucial to consider how these programs will affect the coming generations. The main concern for this discussion involves the effects of daycare programs on the socialization process of the child. The early life experiences form the basis of the later development of the child. Children who utilize a lot of their waking hours under conditions or situations that are not stimulating are said to lose immensely ( Booth, Clarke-Stewart, Vandell, McCartney Owen, 2002). Many children might be affected by many factors ranging from social, economic, and environmental situations in either a positive or negative manner. The most significant influence by daycare program s underlies in the socialization area of a child's development. When compared to home-reared children, day care children were more likely to be self-sufficient, have a better connection with peers and comfortable with new situations in life. They are also reported to be less polite and less compliant to adults while being more aggressive in different issues. However, these behaviors are dependent on the toddler rearing attitudes , which are affected by parents and teachers (Roisman , Susman, Barnett-Walker, Booth-LaForce, Owen Steinberg , 2009 ). During the initial development of toddlers, two main areas are crucial to ensuring a complete and functional social development. The first function of social development involves the socialization. This social function includes all the attributes involved to enable one to establish and maintain feasible relations with other members of the society, and to be accepted within that society. At the same time it controls and regulates his/ her behavior according to society's requirements. This can also be considered as an integrating function of social development