Many parents really stress out over their child care choices, and others simply choose based on convenience factors.  Several studies on child care settings and their effects on children were outlined in The New York Times today, and the results are a bit surprising, at least to a novice parent like me.  For instance, kids in daytime childcare score higher on reading and math in later years, but also have weaker social skills.  I would have thought that they would learn the social stuff in their programs, but apparently not.  This article provides very useful information for parents who utilize either in-home daycare or a child care center. 

I was really glad to see The New York Times share this summary of studies.  Most of us do not have time to keep up on our reading, so it is very helpful when a media outlet gives us some news that we may (or may not) want to hear.  In our family, I suspect we’ll be keeping an eye on our kids’ social skills, since they spend some time in preschool every day.  The article also shares some potentially disturbing news about in-home programs regarding deaths due to Shaken Baby Syndrome, which to me says that if you really want to use such a program, make sure you do your homework on the training and history of the caregivers.  Especially when it comes to our children’s care, more knowledge can only help us make better decisions, and hopefully parents will use the information in this article as part of a wide spectrum of factors for child care choices.