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STATS CAN STUDY SAYS DAY CARE BETTER THAN PARENTS

OTTAWA, Oct 15 (LSN.ca) - A study released yesterday by Statistics Canada claims that "children who are enrolled in early childhood programs and day-care centres appear to get a head start in school over youngsters who stay at home with a parent." The study says that the effect was noted only until the first grade and not thereafter. Improvements of day care over parent care were reported in reading, writing, mathematics and overall achievement. The findings are highly suspect firstly since they coincide perfectly with the current Liberal government push for universal day care.

While the study claims to have controlled for education of the child's mother and the income of the household, it did not take into account the reading that any stay-at-home parents gave to their children. Moreover the results for the stay-at-home parents are accompanied in the study by the phrase, "These estimates should be used with caution due to small sample sizes."

In an interview with LifeSite, Dr. Mark Genuis, the executive director of the National Foundation for Family Research and Education (NFFRE) said that there is "overwhelming evidence in the studies on parental care for over 42 years that children benefit tremendously from parental care" as opposed to day care. Dr. Genuis noted that the "key benefit is in the area of attachment" which is a powerful determinant of psychological health. Studies have shown children develop much more secure psychological attachment with stay-at-home parenting as opposed to paid day care.

For a studies from NFFRE on day care vs parent care see:
http://www.nffre.org/html/documents/attachment_bonding.html

For the study from Statistics Canada see:
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/991014/d991014a.htm

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