Grandparents no longer live next door and often don't even live in the same community. Aunts and uncles aren't as abundant as family sizes have grown smaller through the years. With many more people in the work force, it isn't uncommon to see entire neighborhoods without a single person home during a typical weekday. However, they bring a challenge to today's families with young children who are attempting to weave a web of support for their family. Child-care providers have an opportunity to fill a gap in a family's life once filled by relatives and neighbors.
Many young children spend several hours each day in the care of someone other than a relative.
In fact, the National Survey of America's Families conducted by the Urban Institute's Assessing the New Federalism project reported that 75 percent of young children with employed mothers are in nonparental care while their mothers work, and two of five are in child care more than 35 hours per week. With our nation's families relying more and more on child care, ways to support the relationships so vital to a quality early childhood experience takes on a new level of importance for children and families. Recent scientific research has proved that 90 percent of a child's brain develops in the first three years of life. Responsive relationships between young children and the caring adults in their lives gives them the security they need to develop to their fullest potential. Since very young children learn everything in the context of relationships, this scientific data again stresses the importance of having young children spend time in the care of loving, nurturing and caring adults.