T

he 1970's may well be recorded as the decade when day care came into its own in this country. No longer a poor relation of welfare agencies and defense programs, day care has been discovered by the media, demanded by women's liberationists and espoused by industry and labor groups alike. The President has indicated the need for day care for the children of working parents within the context of a comprehensive child development program. In short, the question of whether or not we should have a national day care program has largely been supplanted by a more searching question: What kind of day care program should we have?

The character of the day care is influenced by the recognition of a need to provide programs relevant to the preschool years the focus of this article. Recent research has indicated the tremendous importance of these years in fostering the development of a child. These findings, which are being substantiated in

Jenny W. Klein, Ed. D., is senior education specialist for Project Head Start.

many Federally sponsored early childhood programs for poor children, have given new impetus to the development of preschool programs. They have also led to renewed emphasis on the role of parents as their children's first teachers.

Both viewpoints, which may seem contradictory, stem from the recognition that learning, like physical growth, continues during all waking hours. If day care is to nurture the growth of healthy-productive citizens, while providing a safe environment for children of working parents, the concept of the child as a constant learner has major importance.

Until recently day care has been largely concerned with its custodial function. Traditional programs, therefore, have been able to accommodate a large number of children at a relatively low per capita cost. Too often, however, the sporadic programs which have sprung up in response to national economic or social crises have been carried out by staff members who have little or no training in child development, and at a staff-child ratio that cannot provide the individual attention vital to the vigorous mental and

OF DAY CARE

emotional growth of children.

During the past decade, however, federally sponsored early childhood programs have been designed to halt the crippling cycle of poverty in which so many families are caught. These endeavors have demonstrated that the needs of the child and the priorities of society need not be mutually exclusive. The success that such programs as Head Start have shown in coupling safe supportive environments with comprehensive activities planned to foster the overall development of the child has promoted the concept of developmental day care.

Developmental day care

Developmental day care attempts to meet the wide range of physical, emotional, social and intellectual needs of each child, within the framework of a protective environment. Its prime characteristic is a warm, accepting climate in which an educational thread links all of the program components. Such a program should provide:

Jenny W. Klein

A bright, stimulating environment designed to accommodate a variety of activities.

A multiplicity of interesting equipment, toys and materials geared to the specific developmental stages of preschool children.

A well thought-out curriculum, agreed upon by staff and parents.

A wide range of supportive services ministering to the social, medical, psychological and nutritional needs of growing children.

An experienced, competent staff trained in the precepts of child development and deployed in a manner which encourages continuing child-adult interaction.

The key factors in such a program are the competence and humanity of the staff, for the effectiveness of developmental day care for young children hinges on how skillfully caretakers combine their dual roles as teachers and parent-substitutes. Without enough competent, caring adults to relate to each child on an intimate basis the most sophisticated day care models are doomed to failure.

A good developmental program enables a child to learn to trust adults, to feel comfortable and secure, and to have confidence in himself as a beginning learner. It permits staff members to serve as behavior models who provide learning experiences at the same time as they evaluate each child's progress, problems and requirements. Thus procedures best suited to fostering the growth and security of children can be instituted and maintained while the child's basic feeling about himself as an individual and a learner is taking shape.

When a child is at home these are functions that parents normally perform, for they are probably the most influential teachers the child will ever have. A parent or parent substitute not only conveys basic skills and information to the child but he also nurtures the attitudes which will affect the child's later learning experiences and social relationships. Since the child in a day care center is likely to spend most of his waking hours there, center staff members must be able to combine both the best aspects of home life and the benefits of a stimulating education setting. This means that the day care staff should think of the total program in terms of its educational potential. Preservice and inservice training, which should be required in some form for all staff members, should include the teaching of basic theories of child development, and training in the use of specific techniques and activities. Special emphasis should be placed on how to use everyday routines to sharpen the children's natural curiosity and develop and increase their motor skills and verbal abilities. Moreover, the staff should always be aware of the interrelation of the physical, emotional, social and intellectual needs of small children. The importance of emotional security as a foundation for achievement should be stressed and the rationale behind the total melange of services understood.

In outlining an overall day care program, it is assumed that some daily activities will have a higher educational potential than others a factor to be considered in planning program goals and the specific activities designed to achieve them. Long term goals should be broken down into specific parts. For

example, aiding the child to develop positive feelings about himself can be achieved by:

Seeing that he has a place for his own things. Providing him with activities that are suitable to his level of understanding but which challenge him to think and move ahead.

□ Encouraging and reinforcing his successes. Rewarding his curiosity.

Other objectives can be similarly analyzed and translated into specific activities, arranged from the simple to the complex and from the concrete to the abstract.

In addition to focusing on the children's needs, the program should also be suited to the background of their families. The determination of the specific program content, and its relative emphasis, is best arrived at after frank discussion with parents. Such talks may include explaining the total day care program to them—including its preschool curriculum and goals, and the ways these goals can be reached. Final decisions should be made with a genuine regard for the values and concerns of the parents.

The learning process

At home most young children are eager learners as they watch adults perform household chores, accompany older brothers and sisters on neighborhood jaunts, and play in- and out-of-doors with other children. Obviously, day care cannot duplicate all of these experiences. However, child care programs can provide a variety of stimulating activities in an environment that is planned to foster curiosity and exploration. They can also offer a warm competent staff dedicated to the same goals as the child's family.

It is what the physical and human environment in day care offers that determines what children learn there. Even a strictly custodial facility doles out its daily lessons. For example, in one center recently visited, I watched a group of 2-year-olds sit, passive and expressionless, for the better part of an hour. The only activity and the only instance of children's interaction with the staff that I saw occurred when a few children were called and told to brush their teeth. Indeed, these children were learning-if only that the

world can be a lonely, boring place sometimes.

A child's early perceptions of the world lay the foundation for his further education, for they nurture attitudes that will affect both his style and rate of learning, and the way in which he will relate to other people. Since the most constructive attitudes are likely to develop when a child experiences a high degree of individual attention, individualization, the essence of developmental day care, lies in offering a program of activities that complement each child's unique blend of strengths and weaknesses. Since the individual variations reflect many factors the child's experiences, biological makeup and physical and emotional maturity-the kind of attention he receives should be based on a continuing evaluation of his development and knowledge of suitable teaching methods and materials.

This kind of individualized approach to care for each youngster should be reinforced by programs tailored to meet the goals of the day care center, the philosophy of the teaching staff and the preferences of the child's family. Within this framework, however, the following goals are germaine to all early childhood programs:

To help children enhance their self-image. To foster children's trust in and enjoyment of other people and to teach them respect for the rights

To encourage expression of ideas and feelings through the effective use of language.

To provide a variety of materials that encourage creative play and learning, in activities that challenge children without frustrating them.

The activities geared to these objectives can be planned for specific time periods or incorporated throughout the daily schedule. Either way certain elements, such as language development, must pervade the total program. A strong educational preschool program should emphasize verbal development by encouraging children to talk freely. Staff members can help children's language development in two important ways-by serving as models to show preschoolers how to express themselves and by carefully listening and responding to their conversation.

For the response of his caretakers will determine whether the child finds his use of language rewarding enough to be encouraged to communicate freely. Opportunity to play is another obvious element in a rewarding program. The importance of play in promoting children's physical development is well known, of course, but play is also a means by which intellectual, emotional and social growth are accomplished. As well as being a natural activity for children, play is important, serious business.

The staff's sensitivity to each child's likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, learning style and readiness for individual experiences will also help determine how well the educational programing meets the needs of each child.

Infant care

In general, all the factors discussed above apply not only to day care for preschool children, but also for care of babies. Perhaps nowhere in day care is the danger of mere custodial care more insidious than in programs for infants. When resources are limited and staff members are not aware of babies' needs for support and stimulation, caretakers may become absorbed by the demands of active toddlers, leaving infants to languish, confined in their cribs. But attitudes are formed in cribs as well as playgrounds. And the foundations for learning that are established during the child's first year are just as important as later experiences in determining his future outlook on the world.

Will infants and children who are products of day care programs be passive or active learners? Will they develop into dull or curious, trusting or suspicious young people?

To a large extent the answers to these questions will depend upon the kind of day care we design now, based on the priorities we establish. The policies now being formed may well determine whether day care will be a sterile experience passively endured by families who have no other choice on care for their children-or a positive force in the lives of children and parents from all social and economic groups.

In these years when patterns of family life are changing so rapidly in response to new social forces, developmental day care can contribute much to the Nation. On the other hand, day care programs which are not based on the true needs of children could be a very negative influence on the development of many of our young children—and a devastating experience for the country.