Occasional childcare outside the home barely affects children's well-being

Occasional childcare outside the home barely affects children's well-being

14.10.2004 Source: dpa

Quality counts

When small children receive occasional care outside the family, this barely has any affect on their development.

It is the quality of family life which has a decisive influence on the well-being of the child, according to the results of a wide-scale study conducted at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in the US. This is reported in Psychologie Heute, a periodical published in Weinheim, in its special edition on Abenteuer Erziehung (The Child-Rearing Adventure) (issue 11/2004).

It states that a positive influence is brought about by a higher family income, a readiness on the part of the parents to talk, as well as intellectual and loving devotion, regardless of where the child spends his or her day.

The researchers conducted the study among 1364 children aged between a few months and three years. One fifth of them were looked after all the time by their mothers, whilst the remainder spent more than 30 hours a week in day care centres or with childminders.

Children who benefit from childcare outside the home exhibit better learning and speech skills. However, they have also had a little less intensive contact with their own mother, especially if they were in childcare outside the family during their first six months. According to the researchers, only one percent of differences can be put down to childcare, on the whole.