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Care of the Next Generation

© Frank Monaldo

For anyone who has the opportunity to teach little children or coach them in sports or even act as a chaperon on a field trip, it does take long to arrive at generalizations about the effect of different child rearing approaches. Of course there are many exceptions, but there is a clear, observable relationship between the structure of homes children come from, and their behavior.

Children with two parents, and particularly children from homes where at least one parent stays at home to raise the children, are more self-assured and calmer, and enjoy greater self-discipline. These children generally perform better in school.

As Maggie Gallagher reports in the National Review in an article titled "Day Careless," this common-sense notion is finally receiving serious consideration from the social sciences. Michael Lamb of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHDD) published a review of the day care literature. Although day care does not necessarily have to have a negative impact, children raised in day care performed less well academically and tend to have greater disciplinary problems in school. A Texas study by Deborah Lowe Vandell and Mary Anne Corasaniti found that a child's day-care history is an important predictor of maladjustment. Although there are small negative health effects caused by the spread of viral diseases in child-care settings, the real problems are cognitive and emotional. Maggie Gallagher reports that

"One longitudinal study of 33 private nurseries in Great Britain, for example, found that six-year-olds who had been placed in extensive day care as infants had retarded language skills when compared to home-reared children."

This was particularly notable in that the socioeconomic status of home-reared children was lower than the children committed to day-care.

The counter argument is that the problem in not day care by hired strangers, but the lack of "quality" day care. However, the key ingredient to quality day care is not material inputs but the one-on-one, long-term emotional commitment and concern of an adult with a child. A person this committed to the long-term development of a child is usually called a parent.

Generalizations are hardly ever fair. There are many well-adjusted children who are raised in stranger-provided day care, and dysfunctional children raised by a stay-at-home parent. Nonetheless, when considering the effect of public policy, differences in child-rearing strategies are crucial. The nation has an interest in the necessary nurture of the next generation.

The President's recently enunciated approach to the problem is exactly the wrong

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