Daycare = TV Time

Just Call it the Learnin' Box

Seattle has given the world so much, from orca sex to Rainier Beer: the beer from here. But did you know there are a lot of doctors out there? And that one of them studies daycare?

Here’s Dr. Dimitri A. Christakis at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, commenting on his dismal finding, in December’s issue of Pediatrics, that kids in home-based daycare watch 2.4 hours of television at their daycare, 2 hours a day more than kids in center-based daycare:

Research continues to link excessive preschool screen time with language delay, obesity, attentional problems and even aggression depending upon content. At the same time, studies show that high quality preschool can be beneficial to children’s development.

Of course, you don’t have to have an MD to know that center-based care is almost totally unaffordable in this county. According to the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, the average cost for an infant in a daycare center in 2008 was as high as $15,895. For home-based daycare, it was $10,720. So in America, I hope you can pony up that extra $5000 a year. Otherwise, your first teacher will be Mr. Squarepants. Good luck competing in the global economy, little fry.

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About Nathan

Nathan Thornburgh is a contributing writer and former senior editor at TIME Magazine who has also written for the New York Times, newyorker.com and, of course, the Phnom Penh Post. He suspects that he is messing up his kids, but just isn’t sure exactly how.

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