Childcare doesn't upset development
While factors such as the child's personality or the type of childcare centre they attended affected development, there was no difference based on what kind of care they had received. Image: lostinbids/iStockphoto Parents who have feared sending their babies to childcare too early can rest a little easier, according to a research project led by a Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic. “In the past, parents have been worried that early use of childcare may cause behavioural and developmental problems in their children, but we have found that is not the case,” said Associate Professor Linda Harrison from CSU’s School of Teacher Education in Bathurst. “From one study involving about 1,000 children, we found that entering childcare before a first birthday does not impede development.” Professor Harrison examined nine measures of social and emotional development in children aged two and three years, comparing the children who started childcare as babies with children who started later,...