Free Non-Parental Child Care Essay Sample
Non-parental child care is described as the type of care offered to young children by adults who are not their parents. This care is also referred to as day care, since the person offering the care services does it during the day when the parents of the children are not present. This type of care may commence right away after birth and may continue till the child goes to school and gets old enough to take good care of him or herself. However, nowadays, most states have come up with laws and regulation policies on the age at which children can be left unsupervised. In cases where extended day care is present, children are attended to before and after school hours as well as during holidays/vacations (Scarr, 2005).
Types of Non-Parental Child Care
There are three main types of non-parental child care. The fist one is referred to as in-home non-parental child care. In in-home day care, a friend or a relative may come to the home where the children are and provide care for them. In other situations, families employ or hire a specialist (someone trained in child acre affairs like a nanny) to come and live at home with the children and provide care for them. The second type of non-parental child care is known as family day care. In this type of non-parental child care, independent care givers are assigned the duty of taking care of children in their specific homes (Lamb, 2007). These caregivers are similar to those specialists found in childcare centers, but the difference is that they come all the way to where the children live on a daily basis and provide child care services. However, they are independent and stay away from the children.
The third type of non-parental child care is known as center based care. This is a type of non-parental child care where parents take their children to a center to be taken care of by child care specialists during the day. The parents normally collect their children back home in the evening. It should also be noted that there is a special type of non-parental child care where orphans or parents may decide to take their children to childcare based centers to live there and be cared for by the specialists on a daily basis. The centers become their home. This type of non-parental child care is prohibited in most states, especially for children who have parents. It is only advocated for children who do not have parents (Lamb, 2007).
Effect of Non-Parental Childcare on Psychological, Social and Cognitive Development
Considering social development, non-parental child care enhances high moral standards in terms of conduct and respect for others. Day care enables children to grow up with good behaviors and teaches them on how to relate with other people. Children get to know how to respect other people in the society apart from their parents. With day care, a child grows up knowing how to interact with others and exhibits socially acceptable mode of conduct (Scarr, 2005).
Considering cognitive development, non-parental care enables children to develop cognitive skills, such as seeking help when they need something, moral understanding, language acquisition (they learn how to speak) and conceptual understanding. The care also enables children to be able to recognize their emotions, personality and identity information as they grow. They get to know how to cope with these cognitive development changes (Scarr, 2005).
Considering psychological development, day care enables children to realize their abilities and talent in terms of learning skills, handling emotions and realizing their individual behaviors. More so, non-parental child care enhances mental development of a child where he/she can differentiate what is right from what is wrong and exhibits a sense of reasoning by responding to changes (Scarr, 2005).