Child care centers teach the children enrolled in the program the essential skills that are needed for the current developmental stages of each child. The centers teach the children both mentally and physically. Medical reporter Sandra G. Boodman believes that the higher-quality programs encourage and foster children's use of language, sense of curiosity, and love of learning (Boodman par. 21). The better-quality child care programs tend to increase the children’s love of learning and encourage them to explore new experiences by offering the children unique opportunities through the program. The main way children learn is by adults spending time with them throughout the day (Morse par. 1). At child care centers, spending time with the children is the main priority.
As the children attend these child care programs, the children increase their social skills as well. The children are surrounded by children that are the same age as them, and the children learn how to get along with their peers. President and Founder of the Ruth Institute, Jennifer Roback Morse explains that the children can learn by mimicking the behaviors of children that are more advanced than they themselves are (Morse par. 4). There are studies that prove the children in child care centers are learning more than children that are not enrolled in child care centers. One study shows that the children enrolled in high-quality child care showed better cognitive development than other children before kindergarten (Boodman par. 10). Even though the parents understand all of the ways that children learn at child care centers, there are still parents that believe child care providers cannot teach and nurture children as well as the parents themselves can.
Opposition Parents believe that they can teach and nurture their own child better than any child care center, even if that center is a licensed center. The parent’s understanding is that the child care providers cannot provide that same kind of attentiveness that a parent can (Morse par. 8). In Morse’s view, “An infant in a day-care center is unlikely to receive the kind of rich and varied attentiveness that is possible inside a family” (Morse par. 8). The opposing view believes that strangers cannot connect to the children in their care as well as the child’s own family can connect to them. The parents who believe parents are the only beneficial teacher for their infant or toddler are the same parents that do not choose to send their children to be cared for by other caretakers. The licensing rules for the child care centers are strict, especially about who gets hired at the centers (Kaysen par. 10). Many parents trust their licensed child care centers, because they know that the staff is required to undergo background checks to become certified staff that can successfully take care of the children.