Today, the majority of the nation's young children spend their days in non-parental care. About 65 percent of mothers and 96 percent of fathers of children under age 6 work while somebody else cares for the kids. This seismic shift in how children are raised has become an accepted social norm. But strong evidence suggests it may not be beneficial or even benign. That's because the nation puts little value on child care.
Workers are among the lowest paid in the workforce.
About 75 percent of the child-care centers are inadequate, according to Yale psychiatrist Kyle Pruitt. Researchers rate only about 10 percent of all child care facilities as excellent. Even parents who try to beat the odds with nannies, home care or by asking relatives to do the job can't win, according to new, federally funded research. It found that children who spend more than 30 hours a week in child care are nearly three times as likely to show aggression and defiance as those who spend less than 10 hours a week in care. In addition, researchers themselves disagreed about what their findings meant.