Child Care Quality. Does It Matter?

That depends on who you talk to. Some think that day care is day care. Kind of a necessary evil. Here's a quote from the National Research Council Institute of Medicine.

It is no surprise that the early childhood years are portrayed a formative. The supporting structures of virtually every system of the human organism from the tiniest cell to the capacity for intimate relationships are constructed during this age period.

60% of all children in the US attend child care. Yet only 10% of child care in the US is high quality.

We need to focus on quality in early childhood over any other issue. It's the actual experiences the children are receiving that matter and those experiences aren't always good or even acceptable.

The bottom line is this:

We can no longer ignore the people who care for children and expect them to work for less than any other educated individual.

According to raisingwisconsin.org

More than 1/2 of early childhood educators rely on some form of public assistance. One in five family child care providers are worried their own access to food may run out during the month.

In the first few years of life, more than 1 million new neural connections form every second. After this period of rapid proliferation, connections are reduced through a process called pruning, which allows brain circuits to become more efficient. In light of these findings, focusing on early childhood only makes sense. -Center for the Developing Child, Harvard University-

Is there a disconnect?

Nanci J Bradley is an early childhood and family educator, author, teacher, family aerobics instructor, and an all-around fun-loving person. She believes in the power of sleep, healthy eating, lifelong learning, and most of all, PLAY!  (click on the word) She studied early childhood ed at Triton College and received her BS in education in 1986 from NIU. She received her MA in human development from Pacific Oaks College in 2011. She lives and teaches in Madison WI.