The Bottom Line With any childcare arrangement, quality matters. For day care, in particular, you can use some simple tools to try to do your own quality evaluation. On average, more time in day-care centers seems to be associated with slightly better cognitive outcomes and slightly worse behavior outcomes. The positive effects of day care present more at older ages, the negative ones more at younger ages. Kids in day care get sick more, but develop more immunity. Parenting quality swamps childcare choices in its importance, so make sure you pick something that works for you as a parent as
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