Differing experiences of three-year-old children within various types of child-care

Abstract

A longitudinal study has followed two-parent families and their first-born child. The families were chosen so that there were three groups of dual-earner families using relatives, child-minders and nurseries for day care and one group of single-earner families. At 3 years of age children in the study were observed in the four types of child-care setting. The data from the detailed observations were used to compare the children's interactional experience. The results indicate marked variation in the quality of children's experiences between different child-care settings. Possible reasons for such variation are discussed.