An Infant's Needs
Media Bias On Day Care
Day Care Horror Stories
Studies of Day Care
Attachment
Email with Day Care Supporters
Media and Day Care
Why are they Pushing it? Who's getting hurt?
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The newspapers and newscasters could barely contain their glee in their Feb. 28/March 1, 1999 editions as they trumpeted the news that day care's harmful effects only last 6 - 12 years!
Well, their headlines and stories actually said things like: "working moms, feel no guilt! Jr. is fine in day care!" Most newspapers reported the news that damage to behavior, intellect, and vocabulary is "only temporary", but some media outlets just lied about this study's results. Of course, who could blame them? Apart from wallowing in guilt, they took their lead from the study's author, Dr. Elizabeth Harvey of U.Mass, Amherst. She said her study showed mom-care and day-care are equally good choices. IF YOU DON'T MIND DAMAGING YOUR KIDS IN THESE AREAS FOR 6 -12 YEARS. Oh, yeah, and the damage to verbal skills never goes away, but gets smaller and smaller. Oddly, if one reads the study by Dr. Harvey , it says that the benefits of daycare are found only for single moms: the chidren of working single moms do better than the children of unemployed single moms. Her own results show that children of married, working moms do less well than children of married, at-home moms. The Washington Post carried this story on page one, top left. Today, April 12, 1999, on page A12 is a tiny story discussing a new study of day care. 2/3 of daycare is found to be unsafe! A minor thing, no doubt. |
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Another study trumpeted front and center by the Washington Post on November 8, 1998 said working moms only spend three hours less a week with their children than at-home moms!
A time-diary study was done at the Univeristy of Michigan School of Social Research. Here's the conclusion cited by Dr. Sandy Hoefferth: "[T]here has been a lot of concern that parents may be neglecting their children, but there's very little evidence of that." In fact, The Washington Post reports her study says children with two working parents get only three hours less quality time a week with mom and dad than kids with a stay-home parent! WOW! Jasto's neighbors were incredulous. Parents dropping off their babies and toddlers for 9 - 12 hours at a stretch, five times a week are spending not 45 fewer hours with their children, but only 3 fewer hours!!!! How can one make sense of that? Here's how: In an response to Jasto's email query, Professor Hoefferth said "The time that was quoted is just the time directly engaged with children - caring for, reading to, taking along on errands. It does not count the time you are with your child but not directly doing something with him - such as preparing meals while the child is watching television." Also, the time diary was done for one weekday and one weekend day. This study may show that at home parents are juggling many responsiblities along with direct care of their children. The Post uses this to imply a neutrality between day care and parent care. If you are a busy, guilt-ridden, working mom, you are not even going to wonder about the discrepancy between this study and your own perceived reality. You're happy for the great news that you're giving nearly as much as that (lazy) at-home mom next door! If you're an exhausted mom raising your own children, you may just feel demoralized. But jasto is angry! It's an outrage that this study concludes, and newspapers promulgate, that : staring up at the ceiling from his or her crib in the day care center impacts your babies' intellectual, emotional, and physical well-being no differently than being carried around in contact with your body as you shop, pay bills, or prepare food. And does Jasto detect that assumption that kids with stay-home moms just watch tv all day anyway?
The Michigan study, by defining quality time in this particular way, says that your 4 year old playing with a bunch of kids day after day at the center will be just as well off as if doing a craft in the kitchen while you cook. After all, your child isn't getting quality time then! |
Commentary on other articles
Mother's Day Bouquet
Liza Mundy says Moms Need Babysitters
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Media and Jasto
When Jasto was considering placing her just quickening infant in day care the Washington Post ran a few articles on studies about day care. The headlines trumpeted that children's cognitive skills weren't harmed in quality day care, then that their attachment to mom wasn't harmed in quality day care. Only deeper in the article, and not amplified, would one read that the latest study had found only one in eight day care slots are quality day care. And Jasto has been wondering ever since why the mainstream media is conducting a campaign to normalize and legitimize day care of all our children from the youngest age?
A parent must ask many questions when reading mainstream media coverage of care research. |
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