Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Study Calls Day Care Into Question

Aired May 02, 2001 - 10:21   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Millions of parents woke up this morning and then sent their children off to day care. Many admit that they feel a little guilty about doing that. But they also say it's a good experience for their child.

A recently released government-sponsored study adds to this dilemma. It indicates that day care can contribute to aggressive behavior in kids. CNN's Kathy Slobogin examines the choices many parents face.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHY SLOBOGIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's 8:00 a.m. And the Lipshie family are going their separate ways. Alyssa Lipshie and her kindergartener Noah (ph) head off to the school in Washington, D.C., where she teaches. John Lipshie (ph), an attorney, take 2 1/2 year-old Jessie (ph) to day care.

Three out of five young children in the U.S. are in child care. For most of their parents, it's a decision laced with worry and guilt.

ALYSSA LIPSHIE, MOTHER: You can't help but think there's people out there who do it the other way. They're able to do it. They're happy doing it. And here I am thinking I want the best for my child. And I'm doing this for that reason. But I'm not ever sure that it's, you know, is what is actually best. I feel guilty.

Unsure. One word, unsure.

SLOBOGIN: Alyssa Lipshie stayed home with each of her children for a year. But ultimately, she needed to work.

LIPSHIE: I love my child. But I wasn't being the mother that I really wanted to be. I was frustrated by small things. And I realized I was really slowly becoming depressed. And by going back to work, I was able to sort of relieve some of the stress that I had from staying at home and come home and be so glad to see my kids at the end of the day that I was really, I think, feeling like a better mother.

SLOBOGIN: Wendy Williams has no choice. She's a single mother who works as a paralegal in Atlanta. Her four-year-old Samantha is in day care nearly 10 hours a day. It's a state-of-the-art center complete with video cameras hooked up to the Internet for parents who want to keep tabs. WENDY WILLIAMS, MOTHER: If I were home with her all day and it were just she and I, she'd be bored. I mean, she's in a learning environment. She's making friends. And that's a huge part of her life now.

SLOBOGIN: Like many working parents, Alyssa Lipshie and Wendy Williams feel buffeted by studies on child care. Two weeks ago, the latest, the largest long-term study in the country, brought bad news.

(on camera): There's broad consensus that quality child care can give children an academic edge, improving language and cognitive skills. But the new study suggests that may come at a price -- more aggressive behavior, including bullying, defiance, and meanness.

(voice-over): The government-sponsored study found problem behavior in 17 percent of children who spent a lot of time in child care compared to only nine percent of those cared for by mothers. The study first worried than angered Alyssa Lipshie.

LIPSHIE: My gut feeling is it's wrong, absolutely wrong. To put it in ways that evoke all this guilt, and when we're all trying to do the best we can, of course we love our children and we're going to have this heart-felt reaction to this thing, why would they want somebody to feel like that?

WILLIAMS: Well, I took offense to it, to be quite honest. I feel like the whole day care scenario has been a positive experience for us.

SLOBOGIN: Even researchers who worked on the study have taken exception to the way it was reported.

DEBORAH PHILLIPS, DAY CARE STUDY RESEARCHER: What is sort of the take-home message? In fact, 83 percent of the children who had been a lot of child care during their preschool years, did not show elevated levels of aggression at all. And even if you look at the 17 or so percent who did, they're completely within the normal range on this measure that we used.

SLOBOGIN: For many parents, the study is beside the point. Child care isn't going away.

Fifty-five percent of working women in the U.S. bring home half or more of their family's earnings, according to the Children's Defense Fund. Helen Blank says the real question to ask isn't whether child care is good or bad, but why the government doesn't do more to help parents.

HELEN BLANK, CHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND: I think this country gets a big resounding F in terms of other countries. Other countries start right. They offer families paid family leave. They allow mothers to stay home with their children during the critical early months after childbirth. And then they have high-quality child care that is actually subsidized so parents don't have to take it out of their own pockets. SLOBOGIN: Those pockets have to be fairly deep to afford quality child care. The Lipshies' day care costs nearly $1,000 a month. Many parents have to trade quality for affordability.

But lost in all the hand-wringing over child care is a message that should give parents comfort.

PHILLIPS: Parents have a much stronger affect on their children's development than any aspect of child care. That's a critical take-home message for parents. And that doesn't matter whether the children are in 50 hours of child care a week or two hours of child care a week.

SLOBOGIN: It's a message most parents probably know instinctively. But it's good to hear the experts say it.

Kathy Slobogin, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com