Choices on Child Care by the Numbers
In his May 2 commentary, “Science Stumbles in the Sandbox,” John Balzar, as part of his defense of day care as entirely normal in the human record, asserts, “The fact is, children have been raised in social collectives in all kinds of cultures for countless thousands of years.” This claim is insupportable.
Even youth in the Greek city-state of Sparta were not drawn into same-sex age sets until after age 7, and all other ethnographic examples with which I am familiar utilize consanguineous kin for any nonmaternal care. With the possible exception of live-in nannies used by some members of the upper classes, deploying offspring as young as neonates to the institutional care of nonkin under contractual arrangements is unattested before the 20th century and is very commonly associated, where practiced wholesale, with negative effects.
David Murray, Director
Statistical Assessment Service
Washington
Regarding the child-care report: Common sense tells us that if the mother is comfortable with her choice of being at home or working, and the home or child care is good, the children will do equally well. If the at-home or working mother is unhappy about the choice and the home or child care is not good, the children can be equally disadvantaged.
Complex issues like home versus child care or the effect of divorce on children do not lend themselves to percentage comparisons as the basis for giving advice to parents.
Robert Friedman
Los Angeles
