Pros and Cons of Child Care

As I was reading chapter seven, I could not help but think of my parents’ experiences with bringing up my sister and me. Both of my parents worked and after my mom’s maternity leave was over, then my sister and I were babysat at my grandparents. After that, I was in a preschool, but that was later in my development.

This made me think of families without that grandparent figure to assist with child rearing, because 1) child care is expensive and 2) you are never really there as a parent to really see if your child is getting the care that he or she needs. Single mothers and families that need two incomes have to lean on other family or child care, making it difficult to raise their children without influence from family or a child care environment. Of course, this can be a good thing too. With a child care environment- if it is one with people that know what they are doing- that child gets a new perspective on the world and can develop more relationships to more people. If the child is comfortable there, then it is not a big deal, but if the child screams, cries, and is generally all day at the care center (perhaps with an attachment problem), then the parents have to make a decision about what is best for the child.