The Meaningless Child Care Debate

By Rebeldad Brian Reid

The reason this blog has such robust and passionate commenters is that parenthood is the single greatest responsibility most of us will take on, and we feel tremendous pressure to do it well. It's possible to walk away, free and clear, from a boss or a job or even a marriage. You can't say the same of kids.

And that's why debates over parenting issues are so divisive: Every parent is doing what they honestly feel is best for their child. When another parent makes a different decision (to bottle feed instead of breastfeed, to follow Sears instead of Ferber, to go to public school instead of private), it can be easy to see that as a reproach.

And nothing fuels the I'm-doing-what-is-best-and-you-are-not debate more than the question of child care. I'd wager that more study has been done on the impact (or lack thereof) of preschool care than any other issue in child development. And each side has seized on every little finding to make the point that they're doing well by their children: (Kids at home are healthier! Kids in care are more confident!).

While we're unfortunately not ever likely to get the final word on the question, the government came out last week and gave us the latest word: Whether or not a preschooler is in instititional care is not a particularly important factor in development. This isn't a surprise to anyone who has really looked at the data -- the differences have always been modest at best and blown out of proportion by the biases of researchers/media/parents searching for affirmation of their beliefs.

The key finding isn't that care type isn't important; rather it's the findings about what *is* important. "Parent and family features" was flagged as having two to three times more of an impact on how children develop. This is obviously a subtle metric. It's easier to determine care type than it is whether parents read to their kids or have well-developed routines or treat their depression. But we shouldn't shy away from discussing family features just because it's tough. If parents are going to continue to stress about the effects of their decisions on kids, it's high time we put the care debate on hold and started looking harder at the home environment.

Brian Reid writes about parenting and work-family balance. You can read his blog at rebeldad.com.

By Brian Reid |  October 12, 2006; 8:20 AM ET  | Category:  Childcare
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