The Positive Effects of Quality Child Care
There are numerous effects of quality child care, though it tends to be one of those things that you really don't understand until the service isn't readily available.
Consider the number of parents who work and need a quality child care source. The effects of quality child care for those parents is easy to calculate. Without the service, parents are left to worry about children being left in unproductive or even unsafe environments. In this case, parents tend to be less productive and less valuable to their employers and coworkers.
You may think that the effects of quality child care only extend as far as the family in need of the service, but that's not true. If the child care provider is less than reliable, the parent may be forced to miss work more often than if quality child care were available. The parent in this situation becomes a less productive worker and becomes less valuable to the employer. The effects of quality child care - or lack of quality child care in this case - start with the immediate family (parent and child) and extend to include many other people. The people this parent works with are often called upon to pick up the slack from the worker's absence. The parent makes less money because he or she often has to miss work. The family is caught in a trap because the parent can't really make more money without quality child care, and often can't afford a better quality of child care because he or she can't make more money. Society has lost a potentially valuable worker who will likely be stuck at a less productive and lower paying job until the need for child care is over. In this way, the effects of quality child care extend to many more people than just the parent and child.
By contrast, the effects of quality child care are often overlooked. When a parent is faced with substandard child care, many people notice. Few aside from the parent seem to take note when quality child care is readily available.
Among the effects of quality child care is the parent's ability to focus on his or her employment, career or education. The parent who has quality child care readily available and at an affordable price is much more able to become and continue to be a productive, contributing member of society.
But the parent isn't the only one who benefits from the effects of quality child care. Children who are in programs that meet their needs are more likely to thrive than those who are left with substandard care, or who are left alone at home with little or no supervision while parents work. The effects of quality child care in this case become apparent in the child's life, usually at an early age. And those early educational and socialization skills are likely to remain an important part of the child's life - important effects of quality child care.
