Interesting article

I loved the beat-up headline...

The more time children spent in care away from their mothers, the more likely
caregivers were to report aggression and disobedience.

I do wonder whether this is a bit chicken-and-egg. If I had a child I had
trouble dealing with, perhaps I would be more inclined to work longer hours,
for example.

Seventeen percent of children in day care for more than 30 hours a week had
problem behaviors.

Depends what this means -- is there any toddler without "problem behaviours"?

And, the strongest predictor of child behavior was not day care but how
sensitive mothers were to their child¹s needs. Researchers said children of
sensitive mothers appeared more competent socially and less likely to be
involved with conflicts.

I'd love to know how they defined "sensitive", but the results, on the face of
it, are hardly surprising.

For a third of infants and almost three-fourths of toddlers, cortisol levels
rose throughout the day when they were in day care. For most, cortisol
levels dropped when they stayed home.

Question: do cortisol levels rise if children are with their mothers, but are
not at home?

Toddlers who played with their peers had lower cortisol levels than those
described as fearful.

Well, duh! It's a stress hormone!

This stuff ain't new, especially the beat-up headline. I won't be waiting
with bated breath for DS to start showing anti-social behaviour...

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"...children should continue to be breastfed... for up to two years of age
or beyond." -- Innocenti Declaration, Florence, 1 August 1990