Those who learn they cannot trust may feel that adults are replaceable, love uncertain, and human attachment a dangerous investment. They may create internal working models forecasting an unpredictable, unreliable, and untrustworthy world, and be left with wounds that are difficult, perhaps impossible, to heal. The dividends of being there for the first word, the first step, the first cognition of the 101 everyday things which through the eyes of a child appear as no less than miraculous. And then there is the pleasure and satisfaction of seeing our child, adolescent, and adult thrive. A review of the research in this area is disturbing.
Concerns are for both quality and stability of care.
Day care, whether rendered by the most prestigious university center or ordinary nanny-care, often equates with caregiver roulette. This crisis carries with it profound costs in human and economic terms. Children feel a greater attachment to parents, and most parents feel a more intense investment in and commitment to the child. Or borrowing money. Most of us borrow money for a car, home, college tuition.