Category: Day Care

Joy Daycare is a recently established business that has been in existence for six months. The center offers full and part time day care services for toddlers between the ages of three to five years. In addition, the center has modern child development facilities to ensure that toddlers grow up in an all rounded environment. The center also offers continuous training and development to care givers. Subsequently, the above acts as its key differentiation strategy. Joy Daycare serves its market needs by providing accessible, friendly and fairly priced services. Furthermore, statistics in this industry indicate that this market base is slowly expanding as parents resort to long working hours in order to support the rising cost of living. According to Kotler and Keller (2009) a market needs analysis is very significant during the development of a viable marketing plan.

Market objectives

Consequently, this marketing plan was designed in order to fulfill the following marketing objectives;

• Develop customer loyalty through excellent care for toddlers and top-notch customer service for parents
• Expand our market share by 10% annually
• Strive to promote Joy Daycare to be the preferred brand name

Market segmentation

Iacobucci (2011) underscore that market segmentation is highly critical for businesses success simply because no brand has the ability to meet each and every need of individuals within a certain target market. Initially, mass marketing was effective, but has become economically non-viable in the changing global marketplace (Kotler & Keller, 2009). This implies that identifying a core group of customers otherwise known as market segmentation is the key to market objectives achievement (Iacobucci, 2011). Against this background, market segmentation for Joy Daycare was identified based on the following four aspects; demographic, psychographic, geographic and behavioristic. Joy Daycare market segment is made up of middle to upper market married couples within the ages 30 to 37 living within a 10-mile radius from the center. In addition, we allow flexibility whereby mothers can opt for part-time or full time services. This market segment was chosen because we want to create confidence in first time mothers who have high purchasing power. This is crucial for sustaining our business profitability in the long run.

Target market

As epitomized above, Joy Daycare business is directed to one specific market segment that of middle to upper market families whereby both parents are in professional jobs. These parents are always working and most of them hold more than one job. As a result, they require the services of a reliable daycare. This market was targeted because they have stable income and are willing to spend extra to ensure their children get better services. In addition, the services offered by Joy Daycare comes in handy as they no time to take care of their children. Furthermore, this segment is growing and this guarantees sustainability of our business in future. This changing long hours trend will be the key driver of Joy Daycare business. Consequently, we hope to tap into this target market in order to achieve the market objectives identified above.

SWOT Analysis

Kotler and Keller (2009) underscore that a situational analysis is never complete without a detailed SWOT analysis that enables a marketer to evaluate organizational strength before embarking on development of a marketing strategy. Most importantly, SWOT enables a company to anticipate external threats and internal weaknesses in order to come with effective strategies to counteract these factors (Kotler &Keller, 2009). Against this background, the results of Joy Daycare SWOT analysis were as follows:

Market positioning

Joy Daycare will position itself against competitors as a center that offers advanced day care services by incorporating learning and developmental programs within its curriculum. Consequently, in order to achieve this positioning, the center offers specialized training for care givers and teachers to ensure they are qualified to deliver the promised services. Apparently, specialized training is the key factor that differentiate our business from competitors and we hope that the good reputation will work in our favor. Moreover, we will strive to deliver innovative learning programs that are unlikely to be replicated by our competitors. We understand that most parents within our target market have been tutoring their children at home; thus we hope to continue with this trend within our premises. This strategy will assist us to gain parents confidence. Furthermore, we also hope it will generate word of mouth advertising.

References

1. Iacobucci, D. (2011). Marketing management: 2010 custom edition. Mason, OH: South- Western Cengage Learning.
2. Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2009). Marketing management (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Introduction

Kalson’s article “Making an aggressive case for day care’s benefits” makes a deep analysis on the issue of child daycare program; child daycare is a concept of caring for young children during the day when the parent is away from home for various reasons; in most cases, this service is performed by people who are not part of the immediate family (Eberts, 2007). According to this article, when children are under day child care for many hours every week, most of them become very aggressive and the recommendation is that these children should get medical attention. However, the recommendations and the report findings are an overstatement and can not be applied especially with the current economical crisis across the globe.

Summary of the article

This article focuses its argument based on the research reports that have been released by several researchers regarding the issue of child daycare. One of the research report by Professor Jay Belsky a lecturer at London University argues that children who are under child care for more than 30 hours a week are observed to have aggressive behavior as compared to those children who are under child daycare for few hours and therefore his recommendation is that these children should be referred for medical help to overcome this problem (Kalson, 2011).

However, according to the author of this article, this report is nothing but an exaggeration of the facts and should not be regarded with a lot of concern.

Indeed, this finding by Professor Jay Belsky is not consistent with the other reports which have been given out on the same topic. The response on this matter by Susan Campbell a psychologist and a chief researcher at the Pitt institute and Celia Brownell also a researcher at Pitt institute argues that the findings by Professor Jay really do show that children who are under more than 30 hours of daycare every week are actually aggressive.

However, according to Campbell, the proposals is an overstatement since the children’s behavior is a reflection which is just well within the normality and therefore these children can not be subjected to medical care because “there is no cause for alarm” (Kalson, 2011).

Discussion

Based on the argument and recommendations presented by Professor Jay, it seems that mothers should be more close to their small children in order to reduce the issue of child daycare, however, the facts presented by Susan Campbell argue that the parents of any child should not shy away from taking their children to the child daycare program since, on the other hand, the concept of child daycare is reasonably more beneficial to children as opposed to its negative attributes (Kalson, 2011).

Children who are regularly on the program of daycare are said to get better training, good language development, and most importantly their cognitive level is developed faster equipping them with skills ready to join schools (Kalson, 2011).

In addition to this, the program of child daycare facilitates economical progress since it offers the parent with an opportunity to work especially for those parents who are already employed; employed mothers will always have an alternative not to decline their jobs when they deliver and for this reason, the day child care program should be more encouraged across the globe. Even though the warning that more than 30 hours of daycare a week can make the children be more aggressive should not be assumed but rather this can be taken as a challenge by employers to offer flexible working hours for mothers especially within the first year after birth (Kalson, 2011).

Furthermore, the recommendation by Professor Jay can not be much emphasized because its application in the society would mean that, most working mothers especially those with children below the age of six will have to stay at home. Based on the report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the ratio of women with young children working in the US contributes to about seven percent of the working population which is a factor that can not be assumed (Kalson, 2011).

Although it could not “collapse the economy”, the consequences would definitely shake the national economy or worse still it could also cause economic growth to slow down (Kalson, 2011). Besides, this would also put a country’s labor force into a major crisis especially considering that there are many fields that are dominated by women such as nursing, teaching among other departments.

Conclusion

The opinion is that child daycare programs should be encouraged since society really needs these services. On the other hand, it’s important to consider the implications related to long hours of child daycare because this factor can not be assumed either. The proper campaign should be done to enlighten the parents or guardians about the actual implications which may arise as a result of a long exposure of young children to the child care program.

Reference

Eberts, M. (2007) Careers in Child Care. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional.

Kalson, S. (2011). Making an aggressive case for daycare’s benefits. Web.

Introduction

Child development experts hold different opinions about the importance and impact of the first two years of infant growth on human welfare. Some do not consider this period as important in psychosocial progress, while others view it as critical to improved social and mental health outcomes (Hillemeier, Morgan, Farkas & Maczuga, 2013). Those who hold this latter view argue that this period is particularly sensitive as it is now that human beings start to establish trajectories that will guide them through the various stages of their later-life development (Hillemeier et al., 2013). Since these trajectories are self-sustaining, the first few months of a child’s development also bear significant implications for science and social policy. More importantly, child development experts view the infant growth period as having a significant bearing on early developmental growth (Ruzek, Burchinal, Farkas & Duncan, 2014).

The importance of the infant developmental period has worried some child development experts who are concerned about profound changes in lifestyle patterns that influence child development outcomes during the first few years after birth. The most significant change that has happened in the last three decades, affecting this period, has been the development and expansion of day-care centers, which offer substitutes for maternal care. The onset of the industrial revolution and subsequent shifts in economic patterns around the world have heralded a period where both parents find themselves working away from home (usually at the same time). This situation is unlike traditional patriarchal societies where women stayed at home and cared for their children.

This transformation is happening on the back of changing women’s roles in society. Notably, changes in maternal employment patterns during the early years of a child’s life have introduced new issues relating to the consequences of depriving infants of maternal care. Relative to these concerns, Lumian, Dmitrieva, Mendoza, Badanes, and Watamura (2016) state that many mothers in America today return to work before their children celebrate their first birthdays. At the beginning of the 21^st century, reports showed that up to 58% of women who had newly born children were working away from home (Lumian et al., 2016). In the 1970s and 80s, this percentage stood at 27% and 46%, respectively (Leroy, Gadsden & Guijarro, 2012).

A report authored by the Families and Work Institute says the number of women in the workforce in the early 2000s was almost equal to that of men (Lumian et al., 2016). The same finding is supported by statistics, which show that almost 44% of household incomes today are products of women being at work (Leroy et al., 2012). These numbers reveal that working away from home is no more a choice than it is a decision to care for families. Although few people today believe that leaving children at day-care facilities is a “bad thing,” parents are as worried today as they were two decades ago. The statistics mentioned above reveal that non-maternal care has become a modern-day phenomenon to ease the burden of parents who cannot stay at home to raise their children.

Much of the debate surrounding the effects of non-maternal care on infant development focuses on the possible consequences of this type of care on human development. This essay demonstrates that although institutionalized care poses several risks to infant development, it is still a practical way of raising children in modern society because its effects can easily be mitigated by the provision of high-quality care. The essay concludes that it is easy to appreciate the importance of seeking the best quality care for toddlers because it is the only way to minimize some of the negative effects of day-care on infant development.

The first section, below, highlights some of the main concerns held about the growing influence of day-care on infant development.

Risks to Psychosocial Development Associated with Day-Care

Aggressive Behaviour

While many of the views that support the influence of day-care facilities on human development are partially grounded in empirical research, some child development experts have expressed their concerns about this model of care by saying that prolonged periods of exposure to non-maternal care could lead to long-term psychosocial problems (Babchishin, Weegar & Romano, 2013). Some of the more obvious issues are associated with the possible development of insecurities and heightened anxiety among infants when in the presence of their parents (Babchishin et al., 2013). Although most of the evidence supporting the above view is not clinical, some researchers have argued that institutionalized care could eventually lead to children developing aggressive behavior or becoming defiant to society, as well as their parents (Babchishin et al., 2013).

Aggressive Behaviour

Several studies have linked negative behavioral outcomes in child development to continued exposure to institutionalized care. For example, a study by the National Institute of Health (NIH) says that infants who spend more than 10 hours a week in day-care tend to be more argumentative than those who spend fewer hours, or who only receive maternal care (Babchishin et al., 2013). At the same time, the same children tend to be more disruptive in class and disobedient. Stemming from these observations, one notable risk associated with extended exposure to day-care is aggressive behavior.

Leroy et al. (2012) support the above finding by noting that several cases of aggressive behaviors have been reported among children who have been exposed to institutionalized care for long periods. Such behaviors have largely been witnessed when children reach the kindergarten stage. Indeed, Leroy et al. (2012) add that when they reach the age of six, they could have suffered some type of trauma. This negative experience could be caused by impatience and aggressive behavior, which are commonly associated with day-care. Therefore, the general observation is that these children are more disruptive to their peers compared to those who have been raised through maternal care.

Most researchers who have highlighted aggressive behavior among infants and linked it to their care environment point to studies that have investigated the root causes of violence among teenagers. These behavioral problems have been highlighted in a National Longitudinal Study funded by the Canadian government, which showed worrisome behavioral trends among children who were raised in day-care settings for at least 45 hours a week (Babchishin et al., 2013). The studies also showed that children who have these problems exhibit the same aggression in their elementary school years. Leroy et al. (2012) add that these behavioral problems manifest in about 26% of children who attend day-care for the duration stated above.

The above studies mentioned time as an important moderator of this relationship because they demonstrated that children who spent less than 10 hours in a day-care center did not exhibit the same problems (Leroy et al., 2012). The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has further supported these findings by taking into account the quality of day-care facilities and the income of the parents who enroll their children into the institutions (Leroy et al., 2012). The $100 million studies, which are among the largest and most expensive investigations undertaken so far, reveals that the total amount of time parents spend with their children (from birth to preschool years) is instrumental in determining their behavioral outcomes (Leroy et al., 2012). Or, to put it the other way, the more time children spend away from their parents, the more aggressive they are likely to become. Studies that investigated the behavioral patterns of children in full-time day-care facilities revealed the most profound findings because they showed that these children were three times more likely to develop behavioral problems compared to their counterparts who received maternal care (Hillemeier et al., 2013).

Poor Social Skills

Some parents have cited improved social skills as one of the advantages of taking children to day-care facilities (Hillemeier et al., 2013). However, select studies have also shown that the opposite could be true because many children who grow up in day-care facilities tend to have poor social skills later in life (D’Hooghe, 2017). This could be explained by the fact the children are less informed about social interactions when they are in these institutions (Babchishin et al., 2013). Usually, toddlers do not deliberately choose such an outcome. Instead, poor social development occurs naturally to them because of their inability to develop strong social bonds which their counterparts, who have grown up in maternal care, enjoy based on their interactions with family members (D’Hooghe, 2017). The problem is partly defined by the probability that they may start to view the family unit as comprised of people they interact with at the day-care facility as opposed to those they are biologically related to (Babchishin et al., 2013).

Possible Development of Depression and Anxiety

Sending infants to day-care, as opposed to caring for them at home, has also been linked to increased cases of depression and anxiety (Leroy et al., 2012). Anxiety is often caused by the lack of infant attachment to maternal care from birth (D’Hooghe, 2017). Such a problem could manifest as “separation anxiety” because such children are often forced to be away from their parents even though they do not wish for this situation. Additionally, evidence shows that these children are largely dependent on other people and fail to use their time wisely or complete their work on time because of depression and anxiety (Ruzek et al., 2014).

According to Leroy et al. (2012), children who grow up in day-care centers may exhibit signs of poor social adaptation because they suffer from emotional disorders and personality dysfunctions. Long-term studies that have investigated the same phenomenon by investigating child development from birth into adulthood reveal that the institutionalization of infants in the first five years of development often leads to challenges in emotional and social adjustment later in life (Ruzek et al., 2014). Leroy et al. (2012) support this assertion by saying that most children who are frequently cared for in day-care centers commonly show signs of indiscriminate attachment and friendliness. They are also more likely to be clingy and attention-seeking (D’Hooghe, 2017).

Researchers who have delved deeper into this matter reveal that the problem lies in the institutional setup of day-care facilities, which denies infants the adequate quantity of care they require (Lumian et al., 2016). The “substitute mothers” can often be called away to complete other duties or to attend to other children. Therefore, the infants develop a sense of “lack,” which frustrates them and could develop into depression and anxiety in later years. Several researchers who examined this issue in the 1990s observed that children raised in day-care facilities are often vulnerable to medical and psychological hazards because of institutionalized care (Babchishin et al., 2013). They also found that the effects of this type of care cannot be minimized to a tolerable or acceptable level, even with an increase in expenditure (Babchishin et al., 2013). Studies that have investigated the short-term effects of institutionalized care also report that such care exposes children to infectious diseases and can result in delayed development of linguistic skills. Researchers who have investigated the same effect on children coming from impoverished backgrounds claim that these outcomes are more profound among low-income populations (Ruzek et al., 2014).

Insecurity

When children are exposed to long periods of institutionalized care, they can easily develop a sense of detachment from their parents and other family members. Coker, Windon, Moreno, Schuster, and Chung (2013) say detachment often arises after infants develop an understanding of object permanence. This problem emerges when the toddlers realize that the absence of a parent is unsettling, stemming from the understanding that the parents are the primary caregivers. Researchers suggest that separation anxiety intensifies when children are around nine months old (Shah, Kennedy, Clark, Bauer & Schwartz, 2016). Other infants develop this insecurity problem later when they are around 15-18 months old (Coker et al., 2013).

The risk of infants developing insecurities in their later years of development was partly explored by researchers such as Mary Ainsworth in her readjustment of the attachment theory. She said that such insecurity issues often stem from “attachment behaviours” where children try to establish a relationship with a previously absent caregiver (Cassidy, Jones & Shaver, 2013). Since this need to re-establish attachment occurs almost innately among human beings, several researchers have suggested that it could be a trait that humans are born with (D’Hooghe, 2017; Cassidy et al., 2013). These findings were developed from a study that analyzed a cross-section of children who had varying degrees of attachment to their parents. Those who had the strongest attachment were seen to be more secure when left alone, while those who did not enjoy this relationship seemed to be in distress (D’Hooghe, 2017; Cassidy et al., 2013). Although the attachment theory does not specify which type of caregiver is more important to a child’s development, it emphasizes the importance of at least one parent to develop an attachment to their newly born children (De Souza & Veríssimo, 2015).

Jean Piaget highlighted the above problem in his studies which sought to understand how object permanence is integral to cognitive development (Rehman, Ali, Gulap & Karim, 2014). His views are enshrined in the cognitive development theory, which presupposes that children are often busy and motivated explorers whose actions are typically directly influenced by their environment, or what they see (Rehman et al., 2014). The theory draws attention to an important concern among experts who do not advocate non-maternal care – poor cognitive development. Holistically, the cognitive development theory has four distinct stages: the sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, and formal operational stage (Rehman et al., 2014).

Evidence of the above findings appears in several studies, which have shown that infants may develop a sense of detachment because their parents do not allocate enough time with them (Shah et al., 2016). Studies that support this assertion also demonstrate that many children who grow up frequenting day-care facilities tend to rebel against their parents (D’Hooghe, 2017). They also extend the rebellious streak in defiance of teachers later in their teenage years.

Although these views appear in several psychological studies, which underscore the importance of maternal care, some researchers contend that the problem does not necessarily hinge on the amount of routine childcare, but rather on the quality of infant care offered (Shah et al., 2016). Based on this observation, they propose that non-maternal care should be of high quality. From this assumption, they argue that caregivers should be nurturing, attentive, and stimulating. This view provides a way to understand how institutionalized care could be beneficial to parents who are unable to take care of their children. The possible benefits are discussed below.

Potential Benefits of Day-care

Some proponents of day-care argue that continued provision of such care has little to no effect on infant growth and development because infant development is largely determined by genes, as opposed to their experiences when growing up (Belsky & Pluess, 2013). This view espouses the principles of the psychoanalytic theory, which relies on personality formation to determine developmental outcomes. Erik Erikson developed this theory and suggests that human beings undergo eight stages of development (Salomonsson, 2017). These stages are defined by a struggle between positive and negative emotional states that emerge as developmental crises that must be resolved. The resolution process depends on the interaction between an individual’s personality and existing environmental outcomes.

This paper’s discussion on infant development covers the first stage of this conflict because it starts from birth, up to 6 years old (Malone, Liu, Vaillant, Rentz & Waldinger 2016). The later stages involve conflicts that define human development from when they are 6 years old up to when they become adults. The first conflict involves a struggle between trust and mistrust because it outlines a period where infants believe that their caregivers would take care of them unconditionally (Keys et al., 2013). Those who do not get proper care during this period tend to develop mistrust for people and those around them (Belsky & Pluess, 2013). The other stages of psychological development involve struggles between autonomy and doubt (second stage), initiative vs. guilt (third stage), industry vs. inferiority (fourth stage), identity vs. role confusion (fifth stage), intimacy vs. isolation (sixth stage), productivity vs. stagnation (seventh stage), and ego integrity vs. despair (eight stages) (Gilleard & Higgs, 2016). Although all these stages of development are relevant to a common understanding of human growth, the first stage of mistrust vs. mistrust applies best to the context of this paper’s discussion.

The inclusion of personality in determining human developmental outcomes largely explains why proponents of day-care are confident about its effects on infant development. As mentioned in this paper, genes are also partly important in determining human developmental outcomes. In other words, they do not holistically believe that negative infant developmental outcomes are solely attributed to social or environmental influences. This is why some experts argue that the impact of day-care on infant development is minimal because such outcomes are largely moderated by an infant’s gene pool (Malone et al., 2016). Therefore, they say there is no cause for alarm; as long as the infant gets “good enough” care, their development will not differ much from infants who get maternal care.

A section of observers also supports the growth of day-care services because they say when good quality institutionalized care is offered, it could be more empowering to infants who would have otherwise grown up in unstable homes (Malone et al., 2016). In particular, they say such care is disproportionately beneficial to children who hail from low-income families or from communities characterized by low education levels. A study by Garbarski (2014) affirms the above fact by arguing that children from low-income backgrounds tend to benefit the most from non-maternal care. Children who have poorly educated mothers and those who are being raised by foreign parents have also been highlighted in the study to benefit immensely from day-care (Garbarski, 2014). Nevertheless, the same study draws our attention to other moderating factors in infant development, such as the quality of care offered, the number of children in the day-care facility, and the level of training of day-care staff. The quality of the care staff is also highlighted in a study by Li, Farkas, Duncan, Burchinal, and Vandell (2013) which showed that high-quality care is often associated with better memory, good language skills, and oratory prowess among infants who received institutionalized care (Stolarova et al., 2016).

A report by Jaffee, Van Hulle, and Rodgers (2012) also reveals that infants raised in the day-care setting are not necessarily disadvantaged compared to their counterparts who grow up with maternal care because there are no differences between the outcomes of children cared for in day-care facilities and at home. This view is partly supported by a National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, which tried to investigate the effects of non-maternal care among children in their first seven years of development (Jaffee et al., 2012). The study sought to understand the impact of non-maternal care among children in the first three years after birth and found no significant developmental differences among children who were exposed to prolonged non-maternal care and those who were raised at home (Jaffee et al., 2012). In fact, the study proposed that children who received non-maternal care reported decreased behavioral problems and higher achievement levels (Jaffee et al., 2012).

Relative to the above view, Leroy et al. (2012) believe that this outcome only applies to infants with special needs and “typically developing” children. Nonetheless, the study by Jaffee et al. (2012) shows that the timing of entry into non-maternal care does not have a significant impact on infant development. Complementary studies show that children who were exposed to high quality or medium quality care were 4.5 more likely to develop high levels of cognitive development by their 15^th birthdays (Mills-Koonce et al., 2015). The same findings showed that high-quality day-care services were associated with fewer behavioral problems among infants and an improvement in their development standards (Mills-Koonce et al., 2015).

Studies that support this point of view demonstrate that toddlers who receive institutionalized care tend to score higher in specific standardized tests compared to their counterparts who receive home care (Santos, Corsi, Marques & Rocha, 2013). The same positive performance has been linked to improved cognitive and language development (Mills-Koonce et al., 2015). Relative to this assertion, Leroy et al. (2012) say children who grew up in day-care facilities developed a higher cognitive function compared to those who received maternal care. Their range of vocabulary was also significantly broader compared to their peers. Collectively, these attributes explained why they attained good scores in school.

Unlike their counterparts who receive only maternal care, research shows that infants who are exposed to institutionalized care also develop good social skills if they get high-quality care and cooperative caregivers. Some of the skills they develop, which help them to reach these levels of competence, include assertiveness, a heightened sense of responsibility, and self-control (Santos et al., 2013). In later years, these children also develop strong bonding skills with adults much more easily than their counterparts who only receive maternal care. This attribute also indirectly enhances the child’s dynamic growth process in later years. Comprehensively, these findings explain why there are instances where child specialists advise parents to take their children to day-care facilities because doing so would promote their children’s development.

Analysis

This paper has highlighted several risks associated with infant development that is linked to institutionalized care. They include aggressive behavior, poor social skills, possible development of depression and anxiety disorders, and the emergence of personal insecurity issues. Several theorists have also highlighted these risks in their studies on child development and human growth outcomes. However, the attachment theory is perhaps one of the most widely used theories explaining different aspects of child development and their relationships with caregivers. The theory was developed by John Bowlby and states that the relationship between infants and their caregivers is integral to their protection (Wissink et al., 2016). The theory generally argues for the establishment of strong developmental ties between infants and at least one caregiver because doing so would be instrumental in their development (Wissink et al., 2016). This theory also proposes that the development of such a relationship is instrumental in providing a necessary sense of security and foundation for their lives (Jones, Cassidy & Shaver, 2015). Therefore, much of the energy needed to support infant development is focused on searching for stability and security. Infants who do not develop these strong attachments become more reserved in seeking out and trying new experiences in life.

By extension, the attachment theory supports the need for maternal care in infant development because it strongly advocates for parental involvement in infant development. At the same time, the theory does not conceptualize situations where other people could substitute the role of the parent in infant development because it specifically refers to the need for caregivers to provide constant support and security for their children during their formative years. Nonetheless, determining the risks to aspects of child development associated with sending infants to day-care facilities as opposed to caring for them at home is not an easy process.

Researchers seem to have varied views on the matter, with those who support day-care saying it does not have a significant effect on infant development compared to maternal care. In fact, many proponents argue that this type of care could have positive effects on children. At the same time, other researchers point to a contrary scenario. Several sociology experts and child development researchers highlighted in this paper have expressed their concerns about sustained exposure of infants to day-care facilities. Their concerns are expounded in studies that have identified various risks related to this type of care. Based on the merits and demerits of their arguments, it is difficult to deny that day-care attracts both positive and negative attributes to infant development. Therefore, it is wrong to assume that non-maternal care is less desirable than maternal care because many variables moderate the relationship between day-care service provision and infant development. To recap, some of these factors include quality of care, the type of care, the number of times a child is subjected to this type of care, and the quality of parenting they are exposed to at home.

This paper has aimed to show the conflicting perspectives with regards to the implications of maternal care, vis-à-vis non-maternal care. As De Souza and Veríssimo (2015) acknowledge, it is difficult to sort through all these perspectives, partly because of limited academic literature on the subject and largely because of the unavailability of conclusive research data on the topic. The challenge has mostly been occasioned by the inability to carry out conclusive empirical research on the subject because most parents are unwilling to leave their infants in the hands of a caregiver for up to 40 hours each week for experimental purposes. Another challenge has been the difficulty of controlling the effects of variations in the quality of care from different day-care centers and families (De Souza & Veríssimo, 2015). Often, studies that have attempted to contribute to this discussion have not accounted for such variations, while those that have done so are limited in the research scope. Furthermore, many studies have not fully considered the effects of different features of childcare when investigating the impact of prolonged exposure to day-care because they have only limited their research to two features – the quality and type of care. Thus, they fail to note the effect of other features of development, such as the amount of care and the age at which children are admitted into day-care facilities within their investigations.

Based on a comprehensive review of the evidence analyzed in this paper, the view that day-care centers do not cause obvious harm to infant development surpasses the opposing view. Indeed, it is important to note that the main limitation to this point of view is the low number of high-quality day-care facilities available. For example, a study by Felfe and Lalive (2014) reveals that only 2 out of 5 day-care facilities can guarantee either moderate or high-quality day-care services to their clients. In fact, a study by Santos et al. (2013) reported that typically only 17% of infants receive high-quality care, while only 24% of them report receiving moderate-quality care. A greater percentage of parents (35%) reported receiving low-quality care (Felfe & Lalive, 2014). The same study cautions that prolonged exposure of infants to day-care is predictive of more risk-taking behaviors and impulsivity in their teenage years.

Given the merits and demerits of these arguments, it is the responsibility of each parent to ask themselves what kind of care their children are getting from their caregivers. The evidence analyzed in this paper shows that they need to look for specific attributes among caregivers that would enhance the development of their children. For example, they need to take their children to facilities where caregivers exhibit positive attitudes and respond quickly to children’s questions (Miron et al., 2013). At the same time, they should look for institutions that have caregivers who encourage and enhance the behaviors of their children, as well as discourage negative interactions with others (Miron et al., 2013). Generally, parents will benefit from positive infant development if they are more sensitive and responsive to the environmental factors that affect the growth and development of their children.

Generally, the findings highlighted in this study affirm the principles of the behaviorist theory of child development (developed by John Watson), which presupposes that at birth a child’s mind is a blank paper and environmental influences determine what will be “written” on it (Miron et al., 2013). However, the theory lays a lot of emphasis on maternal influences by showing that they have the greatest influence on a child’s learning through positive reinforcement. The principle of positive reinforcement stipulates that when parents reward good behavior in their children, the same behavior is likely to recur in the future. Based on its focus on children’s behavior, the behaviorist theory is mostly applicable to understanding how day-care and maternal care influence children’s behaviors.

Summary and Conclusion

This paper has highlighted several risks associated with infant development that are associated with institutionalized care. They include aggressive behavior, poor social skills, possible development of depression and anxiety disorders, and the emergence of personal insecurity issues. Several theorists have also highlighted these risks in their studies on child development and human growth outcomes. However, an analysis of the evidence presented in this report reveals that most of these risks could be mitigated through the provision of high-quality institutionalized care. Therefore, the quality of care offered to infants in day-care facilities moderates the effects of non-maternal care on infant development.

Generally, the findings of this paper present both bad and good news to parents because whichever side of the debate they support, there are advantages and disadvantages associated with the different types of care that could be offered to their infants. Regardless of whichever type of care an infant receives from their caregivers (parent, guardian, or a stranger), the most important thing to consider is the relationship between the child and the caregiver. As such, some of the concerns presented in this report, which show that the exposure of infants to longer hours of day-care could cause behavioral problems, should not be seen as an unfortunate occurrence in today’s society, but rather a call to action. The more parents can foster quality relationships with their children, the lower the likelihood that such an occurrence could happen. Therefore, the solution could be in establishing a balance between day-care and maternal care. Nevertheless, the findings presented in this essay reaffirm what child development experts have been saying for a long time –it is the quality of care offered to children that really matters.

References

Babchishin, L., Weegar, K., & Romano. E. (2013). Early childcare effects on later behavioral outcomes using a Canadian nation-wide sample. Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology, 3(2), 15-29.

Belsky, J., & Pluess, M. (2013). Genetic moderation of early childcare effects on social functioning across childhood: A developmental analysis. Child Development, 84(4), 1209–1225.

Cassidy, J., Jones, J. D., & Shaver, P. R. (2013). Contributions of attachment theory and research: A framework for future research, translation, and policy. Development and Psychopathology, 25(4), 1415–1434.

Coker, T. R., Windon, A., Moreno, C., Schuster, M. A., & Chung, P. J. (2013). Well-child care clinical practice redesign for young children: A systematic review of strategies and tools. Pediatrics, 131(1), 5–25.

De Souza, J. M., & Veríssimo, M. (2015). Child development: Analysis of a new concept. Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem, 23(6), 1097–1104.

D’Hooghe, D. (2017). Seeing the unseen: Early attachment trauma and the impact on child’s development. Journal of Child Adolescent Behavior, 5(1), 326.

Felfe, C., & Lalive, R. (2014). Does early child care help or hurt children’s development? Web.

Garbarski, D. (2014). The interplay between child and maternal health: Reciprocal relationships and cumulative disadvantage during childhood and adolescence. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 55(1), 91–106.

Gilleard, C., & Higgs, P. (2016). Connecting life span development with the sociology of the life course: A new direction. Sociology, 50(2), 301–315.

Hillemeier, M. M., Morgan, P. L., Farkas, G., & Maczuga, S. A. (2013). Quality disparities in child care for at-risk children: Comparing head start and non-head start settings. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 17(1), 180–188.

Jaffee, S. R., Van Hulle, C., & Rodgers, J. L. (2012). Effects of non-maternal care in the first three years on children’s academic skills and behavioral functioning in childhood and early adolescence: A sibling comparison study. Child Development, 82(4), 1076–1091.

Jones, J. D., Cassidy, J., & Shaver, P. R. (2015). Parents’ self-reported attachment styles: A review of links with parenting behaviors, emotions, and cognitions. Personality and Social Psychology Review : An Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc, 19(1), 44–76.

Keys, T. D., Farkas, G., Burchinal, M. R., Duncan, G. J., Vandell, D. L., Li, W., …Howes, C. (2013). Preschool center quality and school readiness: Quality effects and variation by demographic and child characteristics. Child Development, 84(4), 1171–1190.

Leroy, J., Gadsden, P., & Guijarro, M. (2012). The impact of daycare programmes on child health, nutrition and development in developing countries: A systematic review. Journal of Development Effectiveness, 4(3), 472-496.

Li, W., Farkas, G., Duncan, G. J., Burchinal, M. R., & Vandell, D. L. (2013). Timing of high-quality child care and cognitive, language, and preacademic development. Developmental Psychology, 49(8), 1440–1451.

Lumian, D. S., Dmitrieva, J., Mendoza, M. M., Badanes, L. S., & Watamura, S. E. (2016). The impact of program structure on cortisol patterning in children attending out-of-home childcare. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 34(1), 92–103.

Malone, J. C., Liu, S. R., Vaillant, G. E., Rentz, D. M., & Waldinger, R. J. (2016). Midlife eriksonian psychosocial development: Setting the stage for cognitive and emotional health in late life. Developmental Psychology, 52(3), 496–508.

Mills-Koonce, W. R., Willoughby, M. T., Zvara, B., Barnett, M., Gustafsson, H., Cox, M. J., & the Family Life Project Key Investigators. (2015). Mothers’ and fathers’ sensitivity and children’s cognitive development in low-income, rural families. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 38(1), 1–10.

Miron, D., Bisaillon, C., Jordan, B., Bryce, G., Gauthier, Y., St-Andre, M., & Minnis, H. (2013). Whose rights count? Negotiating practice, policy, and legal dilemmas regarding infant–parent contact when infants are in out-of-home care. Infant Mental Health Journal, 34(2), 177–188.

Rehman, G., Ali, K., Gulap, S., & Karim, U. (2014). Formal operational stage of Piaget’s cognitive development theory: An implication in learning mathematics. The Journal of Educational Research, 17(2), 1-10.

Ruzek, E., Burchinal, M., Farkas, G., & Duncan, G. J. (2014). The quality of toddler child care and cognitive skills at 24 months: Propensity score analysis results from the ECLS-B. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 28(1), 10.

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The context of the journal article

The journal article, Measuring Implicit Attitudes of 4-Year-Olds: The Preschool Implicit Association Test, by Dario Cvencek, Anthony Greenwald, and Andrew Meltzoff presented the results of two social cognition measure (IAT) tests using the preschool implicit association test (PSIAT) on several 4 years old children. The sample space for the research consisted of 65 respondents, consisting of 33 boys and 32 girls with the average age of the participants being 54.51 months.

The primary aim of the research was to establish the effectiveness of PSIAT in evaluating attitude towards liked objects (first variable) and gender attitudes (second variable). Through the ANOVA test, the results indicated that there was a positive correlation between PSIAT and the two variables (Cvencek, Greenwald, and Meltzoff 189). Specifically, the measure of gender attitude variable indicated discriminant weight since there was a clear variance in the roles played by children based on their gender.

From the findings, the researchers suggested how PSIAT could be used to study the development of socially important stereotypes and perceptions that children pick at a young age. This journal article is relevant to my career specialization since it examines gender attitudes and roles developed by children as they interact with society. As a specialist in children and adolescent development, I might use the PSIAT to carry out further research on how gender and other social perceptions affect development in children.

The assumptions of the statistical test used in the journal article

The underlying assumption in the use of the correlation test was that there was no implicit-explicit correlation between each of the variables as independent entities. This means that the implicit measure was carried out first after which the explicit measure was addressed. With the apparent absence of independent meta-analyses, the fixed measures were adopted to align two bipolar scales, which presented averages for upper (+2) and lower bounds (-2) (Cvencek, Greenwald, and Meltzoff 192). The positive values indicated correlation while the negative values represented no correlation.

Research question related to the journal article

Research question

What is the effectiveness of PSIAT in evaluating attitude towards liked objects and gender attitudes among children?

Hypothesis

Null Hypothesis

There is a correlation between PSIAT and attitude variables such as attitude towards liked objects and attitudes influenced by gender among children.

Alternative Hypothesis

There is no correlation between PSIAT and attitude variables such as attitude towards liked objects and attitudes influenced by gender among children.

There is no alpha level provided in the research articles since the variables under investigation are difficult to quantify within the large sample space.

The results of the statistical test

The results of the ANOVA test indicated that there is a positive correlation between the attitude variables and the PSIAT.

For the girls, the statistical notation of the result is F (1, 60) = 15.24, p <.0001, d = 0.49.

For the boys, the statistical notation of the result is F (1, 60) = 43.48, p <.0001, d = 1.70.

The degree of freedom was 63.

The statistical value of F is 15.24, p is 0.0001, and d is 0.49.

The effect size is not provided.

The test statistic confirmed the null hypothesis since the correlation between the PSIAT and the two variables were positive. Specifically, the correlation for the first variable was 0.22 while that for the second variable was 0.43 (Cvencek, Greenwald, and Meltzoff 195). The positive values confirmed that the null hypothesis is valid.

Analysis of the strengths and limitations of the study

The conclusion of the statistical test is related to the research question since it confirmed that the PSIAT is an effective test that can be used to investigate the cognition in children as influenced by different attitude variables. In summary, the large sample space was ideal for testing the two variables. Besides, the use of ANOVA consisted to establish the correlation that exists between the variables. However, the use of one test was not sufficient to make a watertight conclusion.

Works Cited

Cvencek, Dario, Anthony Greenwald, and Andrew Meltzoff. “Measuring Implicit Attitudes of 4-Year-Olds: The Preschool Implicit Association Test”. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 109.1 (2011): 187-200. Print

Daycare centers have been most often a place where children get their first experience of a school environment. It is where infant/toddler class will encourage the children to explore and discover his or her world daily. Most programs in daycare facilities are accented with the use of sensory activities and language development (children will learn by “doing”). Also, the teacher should also provide the parent with a weekly goal, in keeping with the learning environment. Parents can always welcome to take part in classroom activities and share ideas with teachers. With 53 percent of all mothers were working in the 1990s, daycare facilities were one of the most essential human services needed by all families. In this regard, the study of Caldwell (1993) entitled “Impact of Day Care on the Child” takes on an objective stance in assessing the cognitive and socio-emotional effects of daycare centers on children who experienced being in the facility. With her research, Caldwell was able to come up with three suggestions in improving the standards of daycare facilities:

1. strengthening the knowledge base,
2. reconceptualizing the service,
3. making a commitment to quality.

Since the paper is discussing the impacts of daycare facilities on young children, the author assumed that much of the people interested in her topic would be teachers and parents. Clearly, Caldwell’s article dealt with the “nurture” part of childhood development because daycare facilities were created to prepare children in a school environment later on in their lives. Caldwell (1993) reasoned out that her intention is to provide more information for research on the effects of daycare. Most studies in this field run in “the risk of oversimplification” where most of “these reviews were that the child care experience need not harm children and, for those whose home environments were understimulating and over stressful”. Because of the wide-ranging scope of literature on daycare studies, Caldwell chose to concentrate on two topics – namely the impact of daycare on cognitive and socioemotional development. In her discussion of the literature that dealt with the cognitive effects, Caldwell found that one of the first daycare centers in America located in Syracuse, New York gave “evidence of cognitive gains associated with day-care participation, with the more deprived children showing the greatest gains”. In achieving this, the studies showed evidence that “the attachment to the mother need not be impaired” and “that children whose early years included daycare showed no more signs of emotional maladjustment than did children without this experience”. However, these early studies showed “shaky” generalizations. Regardless, “these early projects offered reassurance to other professionals and to parents about what would happen to children under these conditions and helped identify parameters of risk and benefit that have guided subsequent programs and research in the field”. More scientific studies later compared controlled assessments of the children with full daycare experience to those without it. In the full-day care, the children were around 6 weeks of age were exposed to a program that “focused on language development, general cognitive enrichment, and adaptive social behavior consistent IQ differences in favor of the experimental children throughout early childhood”. The comparison gathered consistent IQ differences within the two groups favoring the children in the full-day care program.

With regards to the socioemotional development, Caldwell informed that “greatest worry has been that such an experience (daycare) would weaken the children’s attachment to their own mothers”. However, this fear was proven wrong ever since the Syracuse project that found “no significant differences were found between the groups in a cluster of behaviors defined as representing attachment”. Later studies revealed that the “debate about attachment and daycare is purely semantic”, this because Caldwell thought that “there is a tendency for critics to use expressions such as, “Children who participate in daycare are less securely attached to their mothers”, yet this is was “not at all what has been shown”. Caldwell defended that although “the research has shown little or nothing about ‘how securely’ any infants are attached”, the differences of this attachment studies were all not too significant to warrant a conclusion that children with daycare experiences would become emotionally distant to their mothers or parents.

With all her assertions, Caldwell cited many scientific studies to prove her point and strengthen her suggestions. This is the reason why Caldwell offered that more research in this area is needed because although the “knowledge base is growing rapidly, the conceptual structure that supports it is flimsy and insubstantial”. Caldwell’s article is very informative because she explained the impacts of daycare by focusing on two specific topics only, rather than touching on everything without salient discussions on each. Obviously, she knows the cognitive and socioemotional impacts of daycare quite well and she adeptly explained all of her assertions with accompanying results from the literature she provided. With her observations, she was able to suggest: 1.) strengthening the knowledge base, 2.) reconceptualizing the service, and 3.) making a commitment to quality. Thus, this study will be of great help to parents and teachers alike, for them to understand more on the impacts of enrolling their young children in daycare facilities. This will also serve as a guide for future researchers, where they can expand by studying the success of implementing the three suggestions she had made.

References

Caldwell, B. (1993). Impact of Day Care on the Child. Pediatrics, 91, 225–228.

The goal was to foster health and wellness, as well as growth and development in four-year-old children. The objective was to use physical activities such as dance and music to promote healthy growth and development. The rationale is that although growth and development are principal in child growth, health and physical activity interactions should not be overlooked.

Activity 1: Dance at 10 am

• Objective: To expose the children to dance and music, cultural values as well as improve their choreography and movement.
• Execution: The children need to learn tap first because tap forces them to think rhythmically and methodically. These are the basics so that further progress in dance will help them learn how to figure dancing movements in terms of which comes first, what follows, and how it sounds with music.

Activity 2: Playground at 11 am

• Objective: To provide interaction with and manipulation of the natural environment together with simple and inexpensive introduced elements. The playground also provides for social interactions among the children on their own.
• Execution: Various methods were used, which include obstacle courses, where gross motor skills are imparted. The activities include walking, jumping, climbing, leaping and others. Art projects, which impart refined motor skills and necessitate the use of small muscles, are also applicable in the playground. They include drawing and using scissors, as well as grasping objects.

Observations

Social behavior advances when children interact with each other in the activities given to them whether dancing, in the playground or learning. Socio-emotional skills are directly proportional to academic success (Beaulieu, 2008). The children can identify their own emotions as well as others, and react to them. They learn to relate with each other and adults positively. Developed social behavior helps them enjoy learning and approach learning with enthusiasm.

Cognitive skills empower children to process the information they encounter. It allows them to recall experiences, analyze their situation, and determine the action to follow. It takes time to develop the cognitive ability for which assessment is not immediate. For those kids who do not develop these skills naturally, more practice and training are required. There was an overall improvement in cognitive skills.

Language develops through stages and children differ in their development (Shulman, 2010). Dance and music help them to understand how music counts, listen to it and repeat basic rhythms. The art projects helped them name common objects in pictures and were able to repeat words with four or more syllables. The activities in the playground help them explore extensive verbalization thus improving their language. The children demonstrated understanding of language since they interpreted the commands given to them, apart from speaking them out.

Emotional development is especially fundamental since children begin to understand the reactions of other people and why they happen the way they do. Activities in the playground enable them to have meaningful social interactions with other children. The children were more willing to solve their issues among themselves whenever a dispute arose, and there was a tendency to understand and interpret each other’s emotions. These are the precise, vital initial stages of emotional development and control. The children related with each other properly and shared their play equipment without dispute.

Physical development in children follows a certain order where large muscles develop before small ones. The gross motor skills develop earlier than the smaller motor skills, which include the use of smaller muscles like fingers to draw. Both of these activities were available in the playground, and progress was observed. Most children at this age had well-developed gross motor skills while small motor skills were developing fast as shown by the drawings. The activities at the playground as well as dancing immensely aided in physical development.

References

Beaulieu, N. P. (2008). Physical activity and children: New research. New York: Nova Science Publishers.

Shulman, B. B., & Singleton, N. C. (2010). Language development: Foundations, processes, and clinical applications. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Introduction

Preschoolers are incredible group of individuals that are fast growing. It is during the early years of growth that a child can be imparted with various developmental strategies so as to keep abreast with emerging developmental aspects especially in learning literature. Therefore, having simple and clear strategies of teaching will help impact the kids with relevant knowledge perfect growth and development in literal terms.

Selection of Literature Materials

As I will be dealing with incredibly young individuals, it will be prudent to acquire simple forms of materials that will assist the kids to have uttermost understanding of the learning programme. This will help them attain maximum knowledge as they are in the exponential stage of development. During this stage they are able to maximize use of their learning abilities (Giorgis, 2008). In addition, I will ensure that the learning strategies employed are interesting and captivating for the little and lovely minds.

Good titles and books as media will be a good choice of teaching materials. I will help the kids develop positive attitude towards literature. The books will have illustrative objects such as pictures that are memorable. In addition, I will ensure that the choice of words in the books is interesting enough for the kids to relate to.

Also, the choice of themes will be from selections that are captivating to the young minds and easy to remember. Characters in the literature material will be of animal origin such as hare of which kids are fond of. Furthermore, I will use educative materials that have high literal skills and are easy to understand.

A CD Rom could also be a good media for my kids. I will ensure that they engage in listening and answering of questions especially in activities that require audience participation. Since, I want my students to relate with every portion of the activity I give, every pupil will have to perform the actions of the fictional animal characters in the stories that I will use.

In case of creating models and coloring, my students will have the pleasure to do the activities themselves. This will help them improve their memory skills and discourage laziness and boredom

Development Goals

The concept of development is that there should be continuity of learning as pupils get to learn complex skills that are to be deepened into their system with time. This process can be done perfectly when relevant goals are achieved through the set objectives.

Knowledge and Experience

The knowledge and experience of the child should be taken as the basis for development. This will enable the child to understand abstract from concrete, complex from simple and unknown from known (Giorgis, 2008). All these strategies are geared towards making concepts relevant, coherent and effective to the child.

The Environment

The environment in which the child is in is a vital contributor to psychological development. Most learning modes happen to be first hand contact materials.

These first hand contacts also works for the young minds that are in the process of development. That is why throughout the learning process, I will ensure I use the objects that are mostly used by the kids at home or in school. For instance, naming of most household objects such as chair, trees, cups, friends and domestic animals and pets will be part of my learning strategies.

Guided Learning and Discovery

I will be able to learn the experiences the child has acquired and help out in areas that the child is incapacitated. By identifying these experiences, I will be able to know what to add for full development of that particular stage (Hills, 1999). This will also go hand in hand with discovery of knew knowledge and experiences.

Social and Emotional Development

I will create the right environment for teacher and child interaction. The child’s learning experience could most probably be affected by the social and emotional aspect. I will improve their self confidence through improving their communication skills and nurturing the vital interpersonal & intrapersonal development processes.

Collaborative Work

I will be able to introduce the children to joint learning methods that will ensure that each of them gains extra knowledge from their colleagues (Giorgis, 2008). This goal will also add up to social development. Having the kids know their friends problem solving strategies will intensify their understanding capabilities.

I will ensure that I get to know the diverse aspects in my children’s social and economic life. With this knowledge, I will address them appropriately without alienating any of the kids but not allowing them to notice their indifferences.

Assessment

The significance of every learning process is assessment. With this I will be able to know my progress as a teacher and the progress of my little angels (Airasian, 2002). An assessment will help me ascertain my achievements and also create long and short term learning goals.

With this needs in mind, I will be able to plan for the future effectively. Areas of assessment that I will work on will include learning procedures, strategies, stages and the products of learning. Assessments tools on the other hand will include informal methods like homework’s, observational methods and formal such as standardized tests and diagnostic tests.

Implementation

I will set objectives that I will have to achieve within a certain period of time supposedly a semester or term. I will only choose about three objectives as a start point. Some of these objectives will be like:

1. Children will be able to follow the instructions keenly, follow direction and improve in their participation in class work.
2. Children will be able to remember what they have learnt in class.
3. Children will be able to do collaborative work and enhance peer interactions.

I will also go through my lessons according to the standardized pre primary school teacher-expectations so as to be abreast with curriculum and teaching methods.

Evaluation

Summative evaluation or outcome is one of the focuses of good assessment methods. I will ensure that I give the assessment clear focus so as to accumulate enough reasons for my achievements or failure. But, my focus at this point is for nothing but success. This evaluation will determine whether the right objectives were considered for the programme.

My evaluation plans will also include comparison of my results with other teaching institutions in the district, regional and national levels. By using the right formal and informal assessment tools, I will be able to know my achievements and areas that need adjustments.

Conclusion

Having young minds as my pupils is one job I enjoy doing. Being able to induct right knowledge into the pupils and to see them grow in experience will be my motivation. I will ensure that I do not go out of the teaching standards and expectations but use my knowledge of early childhood education to build a generation that is knowledgeable and productive.

Kids love involvement in practical work, therefore, I will use proper development goals of each aspect of growth in kids to impart proper knowledge. Creating a positive environment will be handy in achieving these goals. Therefore, I will ensure that I do my best to achieve nothing but success.

Reference List

Airasian, P. (2002). Classroom Assessment. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Giorgis, C., & Joan, G. (2008). Young Children Literature: Supporting Emergent Literature (6^th ed.). New York: Prentice hall.

Hills, T. (1999). Learning: Educating Preschoolers. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

This is a summary of observations made in a children day care. The day care has eight children of between two to three years of age with three childcare workers and the Director. The children’s profile including their photos, as well as the childcare workers have been prepared and stored in a designated folder in the custody of the administration.

The building blue print is consistent with the set up of the facility. The day care class is spacious and allows comfort for the little children. There are effective transitions between the children’s activities due to space. The activities are well handled and are preceded by advance warning such that in case of an emergency, evacuation would be well orchestrated. Childcare workers have setup classroom rules and routines that they periodically examine.

The shutoff valve is located outside and is in an accessible place. As recommended by Marotz ( 200), the day care centre has a set procedure to follow in case of a fire within the facility or within the adjacent buildings. In each room of the day care, there are well-displayed evacuation procedure to familiarize the staff and visitors on the procedure.

The day care has the required number of water hoses, fire evacuation cots, fire blankets and fire extinguishers installed in strategic areas of the building. The childcare workers practice regularly, the fire evacuation procedures, which provide them with fire training that also, include evacuation drills with children. The building does not have long hallways or staircases and the classes are located near the assembly point. However, hallways and all the exits are always kept clear of any obstacle all the time.

In case of a fire emergency, the childcare workers have specific evacuation responsibilities. In the day care, there are three childcare workers for every eight children. In an emergency, two caregivers are supposed to move all the children from the class to the external evacuation assembly point that is located right outside the classroom door. Two childcare workers should put fire emergency cots outside before placing the children in them.

The caregivers are also supposed to take with them keys to the main date. Every person within the facility must follow the caregiver’s direction. Once everybody is assembled at the evacuation point, every child is marked off on the attendance sheet. The third childcare worker has the responsibility of turning off all appliances in the kitchen, laundry and closing off the outdoor area and picks the children emergency food supply.

The Director of the day care on the other hand, is supposed to call the fire department, and collect a call list of all emergency personnel in the area. The director’s main responsibility is to collect staff and visitor sign in/out record as well as to confirm the number of children and childcare workers present. The director has to inform the parents of the evacuation once all the children are safe.

On a personal opinion, this day care is a safe place for the children, childcare workers and the visitors. Adequate safety measures are in place in case of an emergency. The day care is in a simple facility, which is easily accessible, with a playground and well protected with high chain link fence around it. The choice of play equipment is as recommended by Marotz (206).

Works Cited

Marotz, Lynn R. “Health, Safety, and Nutrition for the Young Child.” Wadsworth Publishing, 2000. 206-230.

The Development of a Three-Year-Old Child

Because of the fact that the early stages of the child’s development are of the utmost importance for his or her further development, it must be the main concern of the parents and the educational system to help the child to obtain the basis that is necessary for the further development and growth, both mental and psychological.

It must be understood and taken as the guideline for the tactics of the upbringing. The system of knowledge that a child creates as he reaches the age of three is the basis for his or her future development, thus it is of utmost importance to give the child the necessary knowledge and to bring it to a structure that is supposed to make the frame for the skills and abilities which the child is going to develop in the nearest future.

Thus, it has to be understood that at this stage the child is experiencing certain difficulties in accommodating to the world, which means that the child finally begins to feel an element of the mankind. At this moment, the child feels that there are certain needs and wants which need to be satisfied. Both physical and psychological, they make the child behave in a specific way, according to what h or she is experiencing the lack in.

The Physical Needs of a Three-Year-Old Child

Because of the fact that at the age of three most children are starting to walk and begin to explore the environment that they live in with even greater enthusiasm, it is obvious that their prior need at the current stage is physical activities of all kinds, including running, jumping, and the rest.

The urge to exercise their physical abilities increases at this stage of a child’s development grows to colossal level. Although the level of physical activeness depends on the temperament of a child, it is still a well-known fact that three years is the age when a child starts being more active and even too active.

With regard to the above-mentioned fact, it must be understood that the children at the age of three also need due care and attention. Taking account of the danger that the world can pose to a three-year old child, parents, teachers and all the people that have something to do with the childcare must take the necessary measures of precaution so that children could not be harmed or injured. It is a sad fact that nowadays a lot of children suffer from the careless attitude.

According to the UNICEF South Africa Annual Report, “To be a child in South Africa is to walk a fragile path to adulthood. The country is home to nearly 19 million children, many of whom are vulnerable.”^[1] The situation that the children in South Africa are facing now is almost critical, with very little improvement during the pas few decades. Whether the children’s needs will a met during the upbringing process is therefore crucial.

Nevertheless, the facts of careless attitude towards children and heir needs remains a sad fact of the nowadays reality. Because of the fact that the child’s rights campaign has been started rather recently, the changes that have been applied so far have brought very little result:

Children’s rights to protection from abuse, violence and exploitation is one of the most challenging areas of South Africa’s development. Violence against children remains pervasive, child labour is prevalent and child trafficking is a major concern.^[2]

The abovementioned allows to suppose that the campaign that is aiming at the child’s rights protection still needs improvement and some time so that it could be adjusted to the South African Environment. It is desirable that the children care should be upgraded to the European level, but at the current stage it seems impossible. The statistic data also shows that the care of the newborn children leaves much to be desired:

A perturbing statistic is that 22 per cent of under-five deaths happen in the first month of life – the neonatal period – mainly as a result of poor quality of newborn care.^[3]

However, it cannot be denied that there have been some improvements made throughout 2009, which has also been noted din the report. Although the current situation in South Africa is challenging for the people who are trying to improve child’s care, it is still highly credible that the changes are going to follow soon.

The Psychological Needs of a Three-Year-Old Child

Since the Convention on the Rights of the Child is ”the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rights – civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights”^[4], it presupposes that children’s needs are to be met in any case. The violation of these rights and needs triggers the legal accountability for the results of the rights violation.

Therefore, children’s psychological needs are to be taken into consideration as well. Although there are certain doubts of whether a child of three has already become a personality or whether he or she has not gained consciousness yet, it is clear that the child already possesses certain system of knowledge about the environment. Accordingly, he or she can express specific psychological needs that must be met.

Among the most important things that a three-year-old child needs is the feeling of psychological safety. The state of psychological safety can be achieved with help of the adults by protecting his or her rights and providing him or her safe environment that a child needs. Even elder children need the safety that the adults can give them, and whether they receive it or not will determine etheir future attitude towards life and people:

In 1989, world leaders decided that children needed a special convention just for them because people under 18 years old often need special care and protection that adults do not.^[5]

However, the principle that prevails over the above-mentioned points and that is not to be violated is that a child has to obtain the rights to live and to receive everything that is needed to grow into a physically and mentally healthy, successful man or woman. At the current moment striving for the children to obtain a better future is the main concern of the African child care organizations. Since the future of the African children is endangered, everything possible has to be done to prevent the undesirable results.

Day Care Setting in South Africa

Along with numerous countries, South Africa is the one where the facility of children daycare has been widespread for quite a long time. In spite if the fact that there have been certain traditions and rules set from the very beginning, the whole system still needs improvement, for the scientists and psychologists have recently suggested new ideas for the early childhood development programs.

According to the UNICEF National Integrated Plan for Early Childhood Development adopted in 2009,

Governments are increasingly acknowledging the need for social policy that supports the development of young children. Increased research is leading to new findings and more stakeholders advocating for effective support are behind this emerging pattern.^[6]

In accordance with the needs and wants of the children in South Africa, there should be some measures applied to the current system of children care, especially children daycare. Unless there are some improvements on the daycare system in South Africa, there is a threat that children can be deprived of an important element of upbringing, which will result in their future adult life. This dangerous situation has to be dealt with.

The Way in Which the Needs of the Children Can Be Met

Regarding the studies that have been conducted inn the field of child care and the rights of children, it should be said that numerous ways of enhancing the level of child care have been suggested. Although they still need improvement and further development, the existing ways are still efficient to provide the South African children with the necessary environment that they demand.

Among the methods that have been suggested so far, the most impressive one is the play method. Suggested by Fraser Brown and Chris Taylor, it was supposed to have a stunning effect on children’s development:

In 2006 I carried out a piece of action research on an adventure playground to explore what happens when you input the playwork approach directly in a play setting and directly with children at play. The work involved the children telling me about their accidents and dramatic survival of incidents that had happened in the week, and they naturally risk assessed by looking how those might be turned into even more fun and exciting events!^[7]

The idea of using the game approach and the techniques which create the atmosphere of playing to teach children the necessary skills and develop specific abilities are not quite a novelty, yet such techniques serve the purpose of teaching children rather well. Such methods have the advantage of making even a shy child participate in the activity. Moreover, the child acquires a lot of additional knowledge during the game.

Planning the Day Organization

It must be kept in mind that time must be calculated well to make the new methods of meeting the children’s needs, both physical and psychological, work efficiently. If the timing of the children activities has been miscalculated, the new methods will work zero effect.

Thus, the children care process must be well-thought and follow a precise time structure. As it has been noticed wisely by Macleod-Brudenell, “Time is precious, it can easily get out of control and your time can disappear. Time can never be regained so you need to control it by planning and organizing it.”^[8]

Along with the efficient timing, there are other means to help children to develop their psychological and physiological abilities. Those methods are especially important in case a child has some physical and sensory impairment.^[9] They emphasize the necessity to include specific elements that help the child to regain the control over the situation and feel more relaxed and avert their attention from the physical imperfection of theirs.

What Montessori called “the emotional and social needs of a child”^[10], that is, the child’s need to be in an emotionally safe environment and that he or she is accepted by society, is vitally important. Whether a child can adjust to the environment or not depends on the techniques that have been used during the educational process. In case something goes wrong, it will be hard or even impossible to correct the mistake.

Thus, one must use the methods of upbringing carefully and think them through well, so that the child’s psychological health would not be damaged.

The method of equal opportunities^[11] suggested by Montessori must be mentioned as well. This method prevents such conflict situations as neglecting the religion, culture and traditions of the children from another countries and race. The method of equal opportunities forms the idea of equality in child’s consciousness.

Conclusion

It is needless to say that the development of a child at the age of three is very important for his or her further social and personal life. The knowledge that a child absorbs at this time makes three pillars in which his or her further life will be based. Thus, the people who are responsible for his or her upbringing are responsible not only for the child’s life, but also for his or her life as an adult.

Creating the environment that will help the child to develop the necessary skills and abilities is of crucial importance, and the new methods must be used to help the child to become a member of the society and grow up into a healthy and reliable adult person. It is even more important for South Africa, where the problem of child care is still on the agenda.

Reference List

Macleod-Brudenell, I. M., J. Kay, V. Cortvriend, E. Hallet and M. Hershaw, Advanced Early Years: For Foundation Degrees and Levels 4/5. Second Edition, Harlow, Heinemann, 2008.

Montessori, M. Childcare and Health – Module 5. London: MCI, undated.

Montessori, M. Child Development – Module 2. London: MCI, undated.

Montessori, M. Contemporary Issues – Module 4. London: MCI, undated.

UNICEF. Convention on the Rights of a Child. 2004. Web.

UNICEF. National Integrated Plan for Early Childhood Development. 2008. Web.

UNICEF. South Africa 2009 Annual Report. 2009. Web.

Footnotes

1. UNICEF. South Africa 2009 Annual Report. 2009
2. UNICEF. South Africa 2009 Annual Report. 2009
3. UNICEF. South Africa 2009 Annual Report. 2009
4. UNICEF. Convention on the Rights of a Child. 2004
5. UNICEF. Convention on the Rights of a Child. 2004
6. UNICEF. National Integrated Plan for Early Childhood Development. 2008
7. Macleod-Brudenell, I. M., J. Kay, V. Cortvriend, E. Hallet and M. Hershaw. Advanced Early Years: For Foundation Degrees and Levels 4/5. Second Edition, Harlow: Heinemann, 2008, p.
8. Macleod-Brudenell, I. M., J. Kay, V. Cortvriend, E. Hallet and M. Hershaw. Advanced Early Years: For Foundation Degrees and Levels 4/5. Second Edition, Harlow: Heinemann, 2008, p. 3
9. Montessori, M. Child Development – Module 2. London: MCI
10. Montessori, M. Childcare and Health – Module 5. London: MCI
11. Montessori, M. Contemporary Issues – Module 4. London: MCI

The education system in Republic of Panama is divided into 2 parts – primary and secondary. The primary section consists of the pre-school, elementary, and secondary school. In this paper, we will discuss the various requirements for starting a daycare/pre-school in Republic of Panama. Children in the age group of 1 year 6 months years to 5 years may attend the pre-schools and daycare facilities. Once the child attains the age of 5 year, she has to be enrolled in Kindergarten.

License Requirements

All schools opened in Panama requires accreditation from the Ministry of Education (Ministerio de Educación), or MEDUCA, which oversees any matter pertaining to education in the country (Ministry of Education, Panama, 2013). However, to begin a daycare or preschool license or accreditation is not necessary. Hence, most of the daycare facilities in the country are unregistered (Ministry of Education, Panama, 2013).

However, registering the business with the Mercantile Division of the public registry is important task to start a legal preschool or daycare (Starting a Business in Panama, 2014). The first step in doing so would be to notarize the articles where the owners name and domicile, and domicile of the school has to be mentioned including a few other identifications. This process would take 1 day at the cost of US$75 (Starting a Business in Panama, 2014). Further, in order to get the daycare business registered, it is important to pay a tax of US$250 to the Mercantile Division (Starting a Business in Panama, 2014). Hence the registry can be obtained in a complete cycle of 3 working ways (Starting a Business in Panama, 2014).

The day care will be a single proprietorship establishment. The requirement to start a single proprietorship business is to file personal taxes and business taxes. The business taxes are taken care of when US$250 is paid to the Mercantile Division of Panama Government.

A few other legal requirements that has to be covered before beginning a child care facility are city safety codes, fire safety regulations according to the city’s regulations, and health regulations required for a daycare/childcare facility.

The physical space where a preschool or childcare is opened is very important. Proper space requirements must be met before opening such a center. In republic of Panama, the architectural plan of the physical space has to be submitted with the municipality of the city. The city will approve the plan for a preschool or daycare facility. This can be obtained with a payment of US$1 from the local municipality. The Fire Safety approval can be obtained from the Fire Department Safety Office on a payment of US$10.

A preliminary budget

A preliminary budget analysis will consider the costs that can be ascertained to start a childcare facility in this section. The financials will discuss the possible income for 1 year and the expenses, including startup expense for one year. A break-even analysis will be provided in this section.

The financial analysis presents the possible financial target of the organization for the first 1-year of its operations. I assume that in the first year the childcare will have at least 50 children in the first year. The ratio of caregiver/teacher to students or toddlers admitted is estimated to 1:10 and supporting staff is hired on a ratio of1:5. Therefore, for every caregiver/teacher there will be 2 supporting staff. The financial statement is separated into three distinct parts – income, start-up expense, and operating expense.

The income part is segregated into admission fee, monthly tuition fee, and annual registration fee. Income in the first year is expected to be $255000, with admission fee at $1500 per child and tuition fee at $300 per month for 50 children. No annual registration fee is added because it is a new start-up.

Table 1: Estimated Financial Statement for the first 5 years of operation.

The operating expenses include the startup cost and the operating expenses. The operating expenses include the salary, rent, advertisement, supplies, utilities, maintenance, etc. The preschool/daycare center is run in a rented house. The rent cost is expected to be $3500 per month. Taxes are exempted from the calculation of the net income as according to the business taxes regulation of Panama, no business with net annual income of $150000 is expected to pay any tax. Thus, it is exempted from the business taxes, which 25% of the income after expenses, expect for year 5 when it starts paying taxes. The daycare center attains breakeven cost in the first year, with a net income of $7350.

Advertisement in the first year would cost more than subsequent years, as it is necessary to create awareness for the daycare/preschool in the city. Advertising strategy would include promoting the preschool in local newspapers, cable channels, billboard, and pamphlets.

The daycare center provides food to children, as it is necessary to feed the toddlers who are there in the center for more than 6 hours. Hence, quality of the food is a factor that must be considered seriously. The other facilities that must be considered while starting up a daycare are medicine and first aid facilities as the children coming to the daycare center are children who require constant observation.

Facilities

The facilities that the daycare / preschool will provide are two fold – a day care for toddlers from one and half years of age to 3 years and preschool for 3 to 5 years old children. The daycare/preschool will provide premiere childcare services as well as pre-schooling for children who are able to study for some time. The daycare services will be available 5 days a week for 6 to 7 hours. The children staying in the daycare will be provided with two meals. Various activities will be arranged to help the children grow and learn with other children. The school/daycare system provides stationary and other facilities to the children. Music and art classes are regularly held in order to motivate the children to learn and enjoy.

Organizational structure

The organizational structure of the day care system will be informal with only three levels. The top most individual on the top of the organizational structure would be the principal who will be responsible looking after all the administrative and executive functions of the school. She will be the overall in charge of the school and look into all matters from hiring, financial accounting, administrative, admissions, etc. Her approval will be required for any important decision-making. She will approve the curriculum and schedule for the school, which will be implemented for regular classes. The other two positions coming next in the hierarchy are administration and accounts.

The administrator will be responsible for looking after all the possible administrative decisions and working of the school. Maintaining cleanliness, ensuring supplies, food quality, security, etc. are looked after by the administrator. The accountant will be responsible for book keeping and anything related to the financial matter of the school. The accountant will be responsible to handle all money matters and provide a regular cash flow and income statement to be approved by the principle. Both the administrator and the accountant will report to the principal.

The third stage is that of the teachers/caregivers. As there are two distinct age groups of students, the young toddlers and the older toddlers, they are divided into two separate sections. The first group is the ones who require caregivers whose responsibility will be mainly baby-sitting the children. However, they will also be responsible to play and provide basic teaching such as manners, eating habit, etc. to the children.

The teachers or instructors who teach the classes would be responsible for imparting basic teaching using visual-auditory schema to help the children learn and adapt fast. The support staffs are people who are there to assist the instructors/caregivers. It is not possible for one teacher to handle 10 children. That is why, for every five children there will be a support staff, thus with every teacher, there will be two support staffs to help. The work of the support staff will be ensure that the children eat properly, and are comfortable.

Personnel

The organizational structure presented in figure 1 shows that in total in the first year there will be 15 personnel for 50 students. The high student staff ratio ensures that all children are looked after with greater care. The ratio of student to caregivers/teachers is 1:10 while that of the support staff is 1:5. Hence with every teacher, there will be two support staff. The principal will recruit the personnel, the salary of the caregivers will be $1500, and that of the support staff will be $800. The salary of the personnel is above industry standard in Panama. The teachers and caregivers should be able to motivate the students, facilitate a healthy learning process and teach them to solve problems, make choices, and think independently (Click, Karkos, & Robertson, 2013).

Philosophy

The philosophy of the organization will be to provide international quality childcare facility. In order to maintain high standards in their standards, the daycare facility will ensure that they adhere to the requirements of daycare centers stipulated by the government of Republic of Panama and that of other developed countries. The philosophy of the organization will be to serve with a smile.

This daycare facility will aim at developing an integrated program that will help in the development of the children through a wholesome learning process with involvement of the teachers, children, and parents. Thus, the philosophy of the institute will be open communication between the staff and the parents of the children in order to build a safe and stimulating environment.

Mission

The mission of the day care facility will be to provide safe and high quality childcare facility to preschool age children and toddlers. The aim will be to provide a vibrant and appropriate environment for toddlers to learn and grow. The motto will be to facilitate growth of the children and developing their interest in seeking knowledge. The institution will aim to provide cognitive development to the children and help in growth of the child’s social, physical, emotional and mental growth (Diamond, Barnett, Thomas, & Munro, 2007).

Curriculum area and scope

The curriculum for a daycare/preschool will be restricted with fun, games, and learning. The children during this age are highly adaptable and capable of learning many new things. Activities based on fun and games that teach children numbers, alphabets, and creative work will be an integral part of the curriculum for preschoolers (Cheyne & Rubin, 1983). Blocks are an effective tool to teach mathematics to children (Clements & Sarama, 2007). Audio and visual aid helps in getting children’s attention and helps them learn fast (Maker, 1986; Jetter, 1978). Hence, audiovisual tools will be an integral part of the teaching method used in the school.

Parental engagement in children’s education is important as it encourages children to be more creative and cooperative (Arnold, Zeljo, Doctoroff, & Ortiz, 2008; Delgado-Gaitan, 1991). This helps in getting greater outcome. We believe that educating the parents is necessary to help them handle their children and help them understand their child better. Parental participation in the child’s activity helps in increasing child’s readiness for school (Gormley & Phillips D, 2008).

Another important feature of the daycare facility would be flexibility (De Schipper, Tavecchio, IJzendoorn, & Linting, 2003). We believe children cannot be restrained in a set of rules. Hence, the teaching method that will be used at the school is quality based and not quality based. We understand that not all children are alike, and hence their learning capability and interests are varied.

A time frame for implementation

The time required for planning and startup the daycare will be almost 1 year. The first 2 months will be required to plan the overall project, making business plan, getting investors or arrange for private funds, etc. in the next 1 months, identifying the property and location best suited for the daycare and school is essential. Once the place is identified and the capital is gained, the place has to be registered and the school has to be registered. Rest of the legal formalities has to be completed before starting the school.

Then another 2 months will be required to decorate the classes and the daycare center. In the next two months before the school is opened, recruitment of the staff will be conducted, and other necessities for the school facility will be purchased. In the last 5 months before the school starts, advertisements and admissions will be conducted and the new recruited staff will be trained (Katz, 1972) to start the school in new session.

References

Arnold, D. H., Zeljo, A., Doctoroff, G. L., & Ortiz, C. (2008). Parent Involvement in Preschool: Predictors and the Relation of Involvement to Preliteracy Development. School Psychology Review , 37 (1), 74-90. Web.

Cheyne, J. A., & Rubin, K. H. (1983). Playful precursors of problem solving in preschoolers. Developmental Psychology , 19 (4), 577-584. Web.

Clements, D. H., & Sarama, J. (2007). Effects of a preschool mathematics curriculum: Summative research on the Building Blocks project. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education , 136-163. Web.

Click, P., Karkos, K., & Robertson, C. (2013). Administration of Programs for Young Children. Stanford, CT: Cengage. Web.

De Schipper, J. C., Tavecchio, L. W., IJzendoorn, M. H., & Linting, M. (2003). The relation of flexible child care to quality of center day care and children’s socio-emotional functioning: A survey and observational study. Infant Behavior and Development , 26 (3), 300-325. Web.

Delgado-Gaitan, C. (1991). Involving parents in the schools: A process of empowerment. American Journal of Education , 100 (1), 20-46. Web.

Diamond, A., Barnett, W. S., Thomas, J., & Munro, S. (2007). Preschool Program Improves Cognitive Control. Science , 318 (5855), 1387–1388. Web.

Gormley, W. J., & Phillips D, G. T. (2008). The early years. Preschool programs can boost school readiness. Science , 320 (5884), 1723-1724. Web.

Jetter, J. T. (1978). An instructional model for teaching identification and naming of music phenomena to preschool children. Journal of Research in Music Education , 26 (2), 97-110. Web.

Katz, L. G. (1972). Developmental stages of preschool teachers. The Elementary School Journal , 73 (1), 50-54. Web.

Maker, C. J. (1986). Suggested principles for gifted preschool curricula. Topics in early childhood special education , 6 (1), 62-73. Web.

Ministry of Education, Panama. (2013). Web.

Starting a Business in Panama. (2014). Web.