
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 16, 1995                   TAG: 9501260020
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DAY CARE

AS IF there weren't enough stress in the lives of working parents.

Various studies on the effects of day care on children's development have conflicting results, ranging from assurances that it improves kids' learning and social skills, to admonishments that it hurts their development, to warnings that too much too early will jeopardize an infant's attachment to Mama and Daddy.

As one of those guilt-soaked TV ads of an earlier generation used to ask: "What's a mother to do?" Or, as it might ask in the more egalitarian '90s: What's a parent to do? What can be believed?

One thing that can be, apparently, is that high-quality day care can help children, both in developing cognitive and social skills. A recent Wall Street Journal report indicates this is not in dispute. The problem, though, is that few children in the United States are in such high-quality programs.

The National Research Council says average day care might help development of cognitive skills, and won't hurt it. But the few studies conducted at poor-quality centers show these students scoring lower on cognitive skills tests, using less self-control and taking guidance less easily. (Centers considered poor-quality had ill-trained staffs, inadequate materials, large classes and high staff turnover.)

In addition, while researchers found day-care kids more self-reliant and confident in school, they also tended to be more boisterous, competitive and argumentative. Maladjusted? Or assertive? Different researchers saw it differently.

There is more confusion than clarity when the body of research is compared. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development will, over the next few years, release a comprehensive study of 1,200 children from birth through first grade that will bring together researchers who have disagreed in the past.

For parents with young children now, the conclusions may be a few years too late. But it is well-enough known now that, for most parents, work is not a choice but a need. And, for all children, the quality of day care makes a difference.

Even with more data, the real experts will remain parents. Those who must rely on day care have their own research to do.

by CNB