What Is Good Child Care?

Parents have a difficult decision to make when they go back to work after having a baby: Do they leave the child with a nanny, family day care or in a group day care center?

Well, a number of recent studies set out to determine the affects of different child care methods. Each study was conducted by a different research group, and compares different aspects of day care.

The first found that kids who got high quality care did better on standardized tests. Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder of Families and Work Institute tells The Early Show that high quality comes from the relationship your child has with the person who's teaching.

"Does that person care about your child? Does she get on your child's level? It's really important to have a warm connection," Galinsky says. "If the child comes in interested in fall leaves, does the teacher ask what the child saw? Do you build on what the children are interested in?"

Galinsky says that if the place looks so exciting and there are enough adults supervising children then it is likely that quality care is given.

The signs of good child care are:

• A caring relationship
  
• Discipline that teaches
  
• Good adult-child ratio
  
• Kids engaged in learning

The second study looked at kids from all different income levels and found that children from poorer backgrounds really benefited when they went to pre-school or day care centers.

"Many think of pre-school and day care as separate, but out there in the real world it's much more blended," Galinsky says. "If you look at brain development, it's a time to learn certain things. The architecture of the brain is being put down. It's like the foundation of the house — the earlier that children have good experiences with their families and early childhood programs, the more you're affecting the foundation of the house. But the house keeps being built and you need to know you have to keep nurturing them."

This third study is about child safety and found that the death rate for private care is 16 times higher than in day centers. But Galinsky says the study does not mean day care centers are safer.

"It's the person. It's always the person," she says. "Teachers take out there frustration on kids, but it's less likely to happen when there are other children in the room, other adults."

She says violence happens when teachers are at wits end. She says the best thing parents can do to know what's best for their child is to find a teacher who is almost like extended family.

"Really see this person not as competing, but as someone who is helping your children grow up in the way you want them to grow up. That tends to be good for your children," Galinsky says.

There are some warning signs that your child may not be happy in day care, which will show up within a month or two.

Your child is not happy if he or she is:

• Clinging
  
• Acting younger
  
• Doesn't want to go
  
• Quieter or angrier