Well What Is It? Good Or Bad?

The tale of one report and two conclusions. To their credit they didn't merely regurgitate the headlines like we see with so many news stories, but this is a good example of not getting all of your news from one source. Here is the headlines related to a story about the effects of child care on children.

From the Washington Post: Study finds that effects of low-quality child care last into adolescence

And from MSNBC which ran the Reuters story: Study shows consistent benefit of early daycare
NIH report shows high-quality care helps kids' academics at high school

The study itself is a mixed bag but after reading both stories the conclusions I walked away with were that kids who spent time in day care were more impulsive, had higher levels of stress but scored a few points higher on academic tests. Those who received, in the opinion of the study authors, high quality care were less argumentative and less likely to get into fights.

In other words the quality of the child care doesn't amount to squat. How is it different from the sissy rich kids we grew up with, who we could whup in a fight on the playground but they had a really good GPA, with the kids followed in this study? I was proud to add to the stress level of some of those kids who were getting all the attention of mommy and daddy. Of course I had others who did a wonderful job of raising my stress level too.

So, parents you got a choice. You can trade a few points on a test for elevated stress levels which will cause the kid to keel over from a heart attack, or you can have a kid with a backbone who will stand up for himself but probably not get into Harvard. The report even stresses that the differences were not that great.

Your results may vary, as always consult with your doctor before beginning any regimen.......