Why you shouldn't feel guilty about sending your kids to nursery

Children who attend a nursery or creche are better behaved compared to children who stay at home with parents or friends, a large-scale childcare study has found.

As all parents will know, it’s never an easy decision to send your children to be looked after away from home.

Unfortunately, work hours or other commitments often mean you have no choice other than to check your little ones into childcare.

The new findings prove this is no bad thing for their wellbeing – in fact, in might even be good for them.

A French study of 1,428 children examined the subject’s emotional development at between the ages of 12-months and eight, looking at measures such as difficulties making friends, conduct, hyperactivity and social skills.

As part of the study, conducted by the Sorbonne University in Paris, Parents were asked to carry out a questionnaire detailing any emotional problems their children displayed at the ages of three, five-and-a-half and eight years olds.

In an earlier survey, the parents were asked what sort of care they had provided for children up to the ages of three.

Out of this group, almost one in four had been in formal care (a nursery, day centre or professionally-staffed crèche), while a third had ‘informal’ care from friends or family. The rest – just under half – were looked after by a childminder.

The results found being looked after in formal care correlated with less emotional and behavioural problems, and better social skills.

This effect was particularly strong for young girls, who displayed less internalising behaviour – such as withholding their feelings – after attending formal childcare compared to other forms of care.

Boys who attended nursery were found to display less emotional problems, while boys looked after by a childminder showed a higher level of behavioural problems.

The study concluded: “Access to high quality childcare in the first years of life may improve children’s emotional and cognitive development, prevent later emotional difficulties and promote prosocial behaviours,” the observational study concludes.

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