Daycare vs. Nanny and Other Research-Backed Answers to Your Child Care Questions

A follow-up newsletter to address your questions on child care, including the impact daycare vs. nanny child care & attachment, number of hours in child care, and mixed-age vs. single-age classrooms

Oct 05, 2022

Source: Naomi Shi/Pexels

My newsletter and Instagram posts on daycare/preschool a few weeks ago generated a lot of interest and a lot of questions. I felt like a follow-up newsletter was needed to address these questions. The most common questions I received are as follows:

Should I use a nanny/babysitter instead of daycare/preschool?
Does child care impact attachment?
Does the number of hours in child care matter?
Should I choose mixed-age or single-age classrooms in preschool/daycare?

In this newsletter, I will provide research-based answers to these questions. As always, please send me any additional questions you have either through Substack or Instagram!

Should I use a nanny, babysitter, or family member instead of daycare or preschool?

Research finds only a few, very small differences between children who were cared for by a nanny, babysitter, or family member in their home versus children in daycare or preschool. Overall, some studies find that children who attend daycare/preschool show a slight advantage in terms of cognitive and academic skills (see here, here, and here). However, some studies also find more social and behavioral issues in children who attend daycare or preschool (see here, here, here, and here). Yet, some evidence suggests that the behavioral differences between children in daycare/preschool and other child care arrangements may fade by third grade.

It may also depend on the age of the child. Research suggests that the positive cognitive and academic benefits of daycare/preschool may be more likely if a child begins daycare/preschool between 2 to 3 years and the negative behavioral and social impacts may be more likely if a child enters daycare/preschool before 2 years (see here and here).

As many of us daycare/preschool parents know all too well, children in daycare/preschool are also more likely to get ear infections, respiratory infections, stomach bugs, and other illnesses than children cared for in their own home in the first three years of life (particularly when the center has 6 or more children) (see here, here, and here). However, children in larger group care before age 2.5 were less likely to have respiratory infections and ear infections in the elementary school years, suggesting large group care may ultimately boost a child’s immune system.

TRANSLATION: Attending daycare may be associated with a very slight advantage in academics and very slight disadvantage in social and behavioral skills. Parent and family factors (such as parent education, the home environment, and the quality of the parent-child interaction) have a MUCH greater impact on child development than the type of child care you choose. Accordingly, parents should choose the type of child care that works best for their family and their individual child. If the child care you choose reduces your stress as a parent or provides financial resources to improve the home environment, that may be the right choice for your family.

Will sending my child to daycare/preschool negatively impact the parent-child attachment?

First, research indicates that children can form healthy and secure attachments with child care providers and teachers (see here for review). This caregiver-child attachment relationship does not threaten the strength of the parent-child attachment and it may even be most beneficial for children when they have multiple attachment relationships.

Research also finds that the amount of time a child spends in child care may not impact the parent-child attachment Some studies suggest that even the quality of the child care may not be related to the parent-child attachment quality, while other studies find that low-quality child care centers are related to greater likelihood of insecure attachment. In addition, when infants experience both insensitive care from their parents and insensitive care from their child care providers, they are more likely to develop an insecure attachment. Most importantly, the strongest predictor of insecure attachment is insensitive parenting, rather than any aspect of child care.

What about long-term impact on relationships (that is, a child’s internalized attachment representation that they carry with them into adulthood)? A recent study found that child care quality (but not child care quantity) has a small impact on adult attachment representations (meaning lower child care quality was associated with more attachment issues in adulthood).This study also found no differences in adult attachment representations based on whether a child was cared for in daycare/preschool or a nanny/babysitter.

TRANSLATION: Your child care choices are unlikely to impact the parent-child attachment relationship or your child’s long-term attachment representations. Although you should always try to choose the most high-quality child care option that works for your family, there is no consistent evidence that being in daycare or preschool or spending a certain number of hours away from your parents will impact the parent-child attachment. The research broadly suggests that the parent-child attachment relationship is more important than any attachment relationships (or lack of attachment) with care providers.

Does the number of hours in child care matter?

Research finds that the number of hours that children spent in child care was not related to any cognitive, language, or academic outcomes before kindergarten. However, children who spent more hours in child care showed slightly more behavior problems and were less cooperative and more aggressive at age 4 ½ and in kindergarten, but not at age 3. Yet, these impacts were small and maternal sensitivity and other family factors seemed to have a much greater impact on the child’s behavior than time spent in child care

When researchers followed these children into adolescence and early adulthood, they found that more hours of child care with a nonrelative was associated with greater risk-taking and impulsivity at age 15, yet they found no impact on academic outcomes. At age 18, more time in child-care was associated with being less likely to attend a selective college, yet they found no relationship between child care hours and behavioral problems. These conflicting results suggest that further research is needed.

As described above, the number of hours in child care does not seem to be related to attachment issues as an adult.

TRANSLATION: Although researchers have found that the number of hours in child care is associated with some differences in child outcomes, the results are inconsistent and family factors seem to have a much greater impact than child care hours on a child’s development.

Are the classrooms single-age or mixed-age?

Most preschool classrooms are grouped according to age (for example, the 2-year-old classroom, the 3-year-old classroom, etc). However, some preschools, such as some Montessori schools, involve classrooms with children of different ages. So does research find any benefit to mixed-age preschools or should preschool classrooms be grouped by age?

First, there is some evidence that mixed-age preschool may benefit younger children as they may learn language and play skills from older children. Research finds that toddlers often prefer to play with slightly older children and use more language and imitation with slightly older children.

Older children may also benefit from mixed-age classrooms, as they may learn helping behavior, perspective-taking, and leadership skills from the younger children in their classroom. Research also finds that there may be more interactive play as well as more and longer interactions among children in mixed age preschool.

Mixed-age classrooms may also be associated with some disadvantages, including more negative interactions for younger children, less time in parallel play for both older and younger students, and less engagement from older children.

However, a major limitation of this research is that preschools and families who choose mixed-age composition are different in other ways from those who do not. To address this limitation, one study examined a child care center as it transitioned from single-age classrooms to mixed-age classrooms (including 3 and 4 year olds together). This study found that mixed-age classrooms may have resulted in the older children showing shorter attention spans and less time focused on learning activities than when they were in single-age classrooms.

A recent study may help to further clarify these mixed results. This study found that older children are not negatively impacted in a mixed-age classroom when the teacher was more educated (and could presumably balance the educational needs of different age groups in a classroom).

TRANSLATION: There are pros and cons to a mixed-age preschool classroom. You should choose a classroom that is best for your child’s individual needs and your goals for their preschool experience. It may require a highly trained teacher to be able to balance the needs of children in a mixed-age classroom. If you choose a single-age experience, you can seek out mixed-age activities or playdates, and if you choose a mixed-age experience, you can seek out single-age activities or playdates.

Expert Review

All Parenting Translator newsletters are reviewed by an expert in the field to make sure they are as accurate and as helpful for you as possible. Today’s newsletter was reviewed by Dr. Erin O’Connor. Dr. O’Connor is a Professor in Teaching and Learning at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and Program Leader for Early Childhood at NYU. She is also Chief of Education at Cooper and co-host of the podcast Parenting Understood. She received her doctorate in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University and a masters in School Psychology from Columbia University. Her research focuses on development within the context of social interactions. Parenting Understood can be found on Apple Music, Amazon and Spotify and you can follow us @parentingunderstood on Instagram. For more information on Cooper, which focuses on virtual parent groups, meetings, and assemblies, visit us @your.cooper on Instagram and Cooper (yourcooper.com).

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