Keep your preschoolers home....

Remember my posts Play is Work and Does Your Child Need Preschool? Now I have a bit of scientific evidence to back me up.

I just read a fascinating article which pretty much proved what I have said for years, preschools are not better than staying home with mom or a loving nanny or grandparent.

• According to researchers at Stanford and the University of California.Drawing on a massive, national database of over 14,000 children from diverse backgrounds, researchers examined the effects of preschool attendance on interpersonal skills, self control, and rates of aggression.

The results were remarkably clear:

“We find that attendance in preschool centers, even for short periods of time each week, hinders the rate at which young children develop social skills and display the motivation to engage classroom tasks, as reported by their kindergarten teachers” (Loeb et al 2005)."

Ahh, social skills are hindered! What? I thought homeschoolers were the ones that have the poor social skills! I mean, isn't that the main argument against homeschooling?

And this:

• Similar results were reported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHHD), which conducted a rigorous longitudinal study on the effects of childcare on children under 5 (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 2003).

Over a thousand children were tracked from infancy to kindergarten by investigators at over 20 prominent research universities.

Researchers found that the more time kids spent in non-maternal care during the first 4.5 years of life, the more behavioral problems they developed.

Problems included defiance--like talking back, throwing temper tantrums, and refusing to cooperate. They also included aggressive behaviors--being cruel, destroying toys and other objects, and getting into physical fights.

Pretty interesting stuff--actual studies with lots of kids--and I have a lot anectodotal evidence to back this up--I think I will post some in the next couple of days. :)

I have posted about this very thing but this is the first really great evidence that actually proves what I know is true in my heart.

Children need to be home. They need to be in a small one-on-one relationship with a loving caregiver, like a parent,or grandparent or even a loving nanny. Did you ever notice how God gave us children one or two at a time--not litters? [At least before science got involved in the business of artificially induced pregnancy!] I have to think that God knew what he was doing when he put babies, mostly one at a time, into families. Perhaps that is where they thrive and develop best?

Keep your preschooler home. For kids, play is work. They don't need socialization with a bunch of age-mates, they need quality and quantity time with a loving caregiver who models what true socialization is.

Take Care,

Jill

For more of my Pre-School thoughts and suggestions:

• Results of a Scientific study-Why you should keep your pre-schooler home
  
• Play is work-Is Preschool Necessary?
• Tools or Toys? A lesson from my Dad
  
• How to tame your toys--Some practical advice
  
• Ideas to Keep Preschoolers happily occupied
• The Top Three Things You Need to Know if You Have a Pre-schooler