Teach Your Children Well

I wonder how much it cost taxpayers for the National Institutes of Health to conduct this study.

One dime is too much.

Common sense would tell you that children need quality care.

WASHINGTON -- Children who got quality child care before entering kindergarten had better vocabulary scores in the fifth grade than did youngsters who received lower quality care.

Also, the more time that children spent in child care, the more likely their sixth grade teachers were to report problem behavior.

The findings come from the largest study of child care and development conducted in the United States. The 1,364 children in the analysis had been tracked since birth as part of a study by the National Institutes of Health.

In the study's latest installment, being released Monday, researchers evaluated whether characteristics observed between kindergarten and third grade were still present in fifth grade or sixth grade. The researchers found that the vocabulary and behavior patterns did continue, though many other characteristics did dissipate.

The researchers said the increase in vocabulary and problem behaviors was small, and that parenting quality was a much more important predictor of child development.

In the study, child care was defined as care by anyone other than the child's mother who was regularly scheduled for at least 10 hours per week.

I'm sure the findings of this study will be used by lawmakers to push for more and better government-sponsored early child care programs. Of coure, that translates to higher taxes.

The National Institutes of Health certainly gave the Nanny State a big boost today.

Even though child care is cited as detrimental generally speaking ("the more time that children spent in child care, the more likely their sixth grade teachers were to report problem behavior"), there's no way there will be a push to encourage parents to keep their children out of child care and to stay at home with them in their early years.

What are the odds that the government would promote personal responsibility?