Most children not harmed by early childcare
Working parents
are pulled one way and then the other with the constant stream of research proclaiming the value, or damning the consequences, of childcare for pre-schoolers.
For parents who work, the reality is that they have to make childcare arrangements and find the best they can.
But what they pick – be it family help, childminders, nurseries or nannies – can vary on circumstances and budgets. So the latest findings on the impact of childcare on a child’s language skills and mental health will make reassuring reading for parents.
[See also: The real story of a home birth]
A report from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health has found that there is no evidence that early centre-based childcare is harmful for most children. In Norway, most children attend a nursery
(kindergarten) for all, or part, of the week before starting school.
These are equally open to children with physical and mental disabilities as able-bodied children.
It found that neither language skills nor psychological function in most children varied with the type or degree of childcare used outside the home.
Synnve Schjølberg, researcher and specialist in clinical psychology, who led the research said: “The differences between children attending childcare at an early age and those starting later have no clinical implications for most children. Neither do the findings suggest that most children who are cared for at home up to 18 months of age are better prepared than children cared for by others in the same period."
The study used data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study and is based on two phases of research. The first was on 60,000 children aged 18 months between 2001 and 2009 and the second was on the impact of the pre-18 month childcare on language skills, difficulties and psychological function in 13,000 children were five years old in 2010.
Of the children in the research 40% of 18-month-olds attended centre-based childcare and 26% had nanny/family-based care.
Although there was a slight tendency for boys attending centre-based childcare before 18-months to have higher scores on behavioural symptoms and language difficulties compared with girls, it was not statistically significant.
Similarly children attending a nursery for more than 40 hours a week were rated with slightly more behavioural symptoms at five compared with those with less out-of-home care. But once again the effect sizes were small and not clinically significant.
