Stars 4 Kidz

As a chiropractor for over twenty years, naturally many people have come to me as patients. And, over the course of their treatment, in addition to their sharing general health and fitness concerns with me, my patients often share their personal concerns for family, especially their children. What I’ve heard, of course, from every parent, rich or poor, is their concern about the future of their children and how well they will do in the world. In recent years, with both parents needing to work to make ends meet, those concerns have taken on more intensity because, of necessity, a larger portion of child care is being “outsourced.” The quality of child care has been a primary concern for many reasons. And now, a new study has found that the effects of early child care may be more even more long-lasting than commonly believed.

According to Deborah Lowe Vandell, PhD, the study leader, as well as the professor and chair of education at the University of California, Irvine, at fifteen years of age teens who had high-quality child care in their early years performed better on academic and cognitive tests than did other teens, and they had fewer adolescent behavior problems.

It is apparent that the effects of early child care don’t just “fade away.”  Before you place your child in a day care situation, remember that what your children experience today, e.g., a nurturing, creative environment, will make a difference in their success in life later on, not only as adults, but in their teens years as well.

Technorati Tags: day care study, early childhood education

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