Child Care Choices

Book excerpt: In this analysis of childcare in America, Edward F. Zigler and Mary E. Lang examine the structural inadequacies of childcare and approach the needs of children based on age. As more and more families begin to enroll their children into childcare networks outside of their homes, it has become far too common that these environments compromise the cognitive and social development of children. In a long-awaited definitive anatomy of the American childcare system, Child Care Choices addresses the patchwork construction of a system that, at best, has become increasingly inadequate to meet the needs of a changing society. Putting the methods that have succeeded up against those that have failed in broad historical and cross-cultural perspective, the authors of this book review different approaches of childcare in the United States from colonial times to World War II and all the way up to present day. Child Care Choices provides essential information for those concerned with children and the policies affecting family life and parental participation in the work force, from parents and policymakers to corporate executives and childcare professionals.