Family and Human Studies (FHS) 1500:

Lifespan Human Development

Essay
Question

CHILD CARE: If you were considering leaving your three year-old child in a child care facility
(family day care or child care center), what would be your major concerns? Why? Would your
concerns be different, if your child were an infant? Explain. Would you prefer an academic or a
child-centered preschool for your child? Why?

Answer
There would be many major concerns, if you were taking a three year old to daycare or a
childcare facility. The reasoning behind having major concerns has to do with attachment styles.
Before I explain what the major concerns are I need to tell you first about what an attachment
style is. Attachment styles which as been studied and “according to Ainsworth, it’s an affectional
tie that an infant forms with a caregiver” (Berger, 2022, p. 123). There are four different types of
attachment styles, you have secure attachment then insecure attachments and disorganized
attachment.

Being secure means “a relationship in which an infant obtains both comfort and confidence from
the presence of his/her caregiver” (Berger, 2022, p. 124). On the other hand, there are the
insecure attachments, notice how I’ve said attachmentS meaning that they’re two different
insecure forms. The first form is called insecure-avoidant “a pattern of attachment in which an
infant avoids connection with the caregiver, as when the infants seems not to care about the
caregivers presence, departure, or return” (Berger, 2022, p. 124). The second type of insecure is
called insecure-resistant/ambivalent attachment “a pattern of attachment in which an infant’s
anxiety and uncertainty are evident, as when the infant becomes very upset at separation from the
caregiver and both resists and seeks contact on reunion” (Berger, 2022, p. 124). Lastly
disorganized attachment is where “infant’s inconsistent reactions to the caregiver’s departure and
return” (Berger, 2022, p. 124).
Like we have read and learned in the definition of what an attachment style is, we see that they
are developed during infancy but researchers have also shown that over time if the child
experiences different major events it can cause the child to have a different attachment style.
Because it shows that attachment styles can change throughout life, I think that is where the
major concern comes into play. Because while you’re child is secure with you, you don’t know
what type of care they are getting while you are gone. Child become dependent on care and when
that is taken away from them, that can be hard to experience two different things from both the
parent and the part time caregiver while parent is away and in need of a caregiver.

It is hard to say if the concerns would be different if the child was an infant because during the
infant stage it’s the most important and it’s where child start to build trust with their caregivers
but at the same time, majority of people do care for infants similarly and show them that
additional care they need, so you would need to figure out a caregiver that is best for you if going
that route. Wanting to know if the child should enter in an academic setting or a child center is
again a situation where you would need to see how your child is and the situation. In the Human
Development textbook, it explains this situation very well; it states “there is clearly no “one right
way” to teach children. Each approach has potential benefits and pitfalls. A classroom full of
creative, self-motivated students can thrive when a gifted teacher acts as a competent facilitator.
But students who are distracted or annoyed by noise, or who are shy or intimidated by other
children, can blossom under an engaging and encouraging teacher in a more traditional
environment” (Berger, 2022, p. 164, early-childhood schooling box).

Reference

Berger, K. S. (2022). Invitation to the life span (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth
Publishers.