Child Care Choices [Hardcover]

Edward F. Zigler (Author), Mary E. Lang (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 12, 1990

Our overloaded child care system is failing children and families. The authors explain what children of different ages--and their families--need, and what kinds of programs are necessary in light of current social and economic realities.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although it has become part of the daily schedule of the majority of children growing up in the 1990s, child care in the United States displays a patchwork development. As this examination of the system demonstrates, child-care environments are too often unavailable to families in need and are frequently inconsistent and unregulated. The authors also offer a comprehensive view of the societal forces--single parents, working mothers, fragmented families--that have brought business and government into the field. The proposals made in this enlightening study include a forward-looking model for a national approach to improved child care at all economic levels, encompassingg handicapped and school-age children as well as preschoolers. Zigler is professor of psychology at Yale and a founder of the Head Start program.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 271 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (November 12, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0029358213
• ISBN-13: 978-0029358214
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,863,194 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Liberal perspective on child care, January 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Child Care Choices (Hardcover)

A primer on public policy on child care, contains proposals for a 'brave new world'-style child care system, where Government and community-directed collective child care starts from birth onwards. Zigler wants daycare to extend as long as the workdays of mothers and fathers, implement before- and after-school care, etc.

The problem is, their own data shows the obvious solution: The best "day care" is parental care. Searching for better out-of-home care is pointless when in-home care - by mothers - is the real and best solution for children. Their data is good, but the attempt to square the real needs of children with the hollow feminist ideology that in-home mothering isn't important is ultimately self-refuting.