Still Lost in Translation: Realistic Child Care Program Practices

The Gap between Policy & Theory

According to several recently published studies and data, the quiet revolution continues in how young children are being brought up in the world’s industrialized countries. In the world’s riches nations more and more children are spending longer hours in “out-of-home" or group care beginning at earlier ages (UNICEF, 2008). A stark reality remains: even in the best situations…group care experienced by an infant is often a rotating series of caregivers- essentially strangers- who struggle to meet the physical, emotional and cognitive needs of several infants and or toddlers. As well-meaning, energetic, nurturing, and loving as these caregivers may be, they may simply not be able to authentically connect in the ongoing close emotional interactive patterns during group care situations that are believed by neuroscientific researchers to be essential to healthy emotional, cognitive, and brain development.

What we know about the “Dance of Development”

Imagine the ideal exchanges as an intimate dance of responses to experiences shared between a parent and child that builds neurological circuitry and fosters the child’s growing ability to act on his own. Researchers believe that the best interactions must offer the following characteristics in order for this magic dance of development to unfold.

• Every baby needs to be the apple of someone’s eye…someone who shares a sparkle and a special smile of understanding. Every growing baby and child needs their very own "special person," someone who is especially attuned to the history of his or her unique experiences.
• Non-verbal babies especially need an adult guide who can interpret their individual “signals” and attempts to communicate. This guide lovingly helps them to learn how to learn about and “navigate” around their culture and the physical world.
• Our youngest children need adults who have the time, understanding and flexibility to engage in one-to-one interactions that are sensitive, reciprocal, and intimately shared exchanges as part of a loving “dance.”

What can we do?

Traditionally, a parent has filled the role of adult guide and shared the loving “dance” with young children. But how does a guilt ridden working parent manage? Cathleen Sherry, an Australian human rights lawyer believes the responsibility of child rearing comes with a harsh truth. She states, “No one has the absolute right to a career – men or women. If you chose to have children, your major responsibility is to care for them properly, and if that affects your career, it affects your career (Biddulph, 2006).” While this is a strong and controversial statement in the eyes of many working parents, the statement reinforces what we in the field of early childhood know: children require great care and attention, and that is expensive. Parents have to be wiling to sacrifice time and money and resist putting their children in cheap substandard care.

Many parents must work or choose not to provide care for their children, so we have to have the chutzpah to tell it like it is… we must be sure parents understand they either have to care for their children at home OR must pay well for high quality early child care. The best programs will cost more in order that they in turn can pay staff employees well. Simply logic dictates that when high-quality programs pay caregivers and providers a professional wage, they will have better trained educators and less staff turnover thus resulting in more responsive care for children. Why is this so important? Because research shows that babies and toddlers need consistent, ongoing, responsive care by adults who know how to dance with them.

What’s the Plan?

Its simple... in 2009 lobby your state representatives in Washington DC for:

• More public funding for effective services and policies for children under 3
• The creation of a Department of Early Childhood and School Readiness which ensures the research is considered by policymakers and provides national guidelines for oversight.
• Tuition tax credit for all caregivers or providers who attend and complete early childhood education classes
• A national standard of lower child–to-adult ratios for infants and toddlers to ensure they have the best opportunities for high quality care.

What's YOUR plan in 2009? Send us your comments!

Resources for further reading:

Biddulph, S. 2006. Raising Babies: Should under 3’s go to nursery? London: Harper Thorsons.

Gerhardt, S. 2004. Why Love Matters: How affection shapes a baby’s brain. New York, NY: Bruner-Routledge.

UNICEF. 2008. The child care transition: Innocenti Report Card 8. Florence, Italy: UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre.