Socialization, Child Care, and the Global AIDS Crisis

Child care centers contribute to the positive socialization of pre-formal school children. Children benefit from the diverse learning environment that a child care center can provide. At a child care center, the toddler interacts with peers — a primary component of social and psychological development. The child also learns how to manage separation anxiety, and parents learn strategies to help their child become more independent.

Moreover, a child care center exposes the child to peers of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds as well as children of both genders. This exposure becomes invaluable when the child later attends formal school. Similarly, the child care center most likely introduces the toddler to differences in physical and mental ability, as well as different learning styles and personalities.

An alternative view holds that child care centers do not contribute to the positive socialization of pre-formal school children. A toddler-age child needs to bond with parents first and foremost. Although peer bonding is important at a young age, parents can encourage social skills development through home-centered activities that help the child learn and grow in a comfortable and stable environment.

Child care centers may also introduce the child to unnecessarily stressful stimuli, including bullies and other unpleasant social experiences. Positive socialization can take place in a more nurturing environment than a child care center — one in which the caregivers are not strangers to the child.

Child care centers contribute to the positive socialization of pre-formal school children under certain circumstances and in some cases. A child care center encourages toddlers to develop social and psychological coping mechanisms, introducing the child to ways of thinking, learning, speaking, and behaving that are not normally taught in the home.

However, not all child care centers are created equal, and some might not offer a healthy environment in which the toddler can thrive. For example, if a child is mentally or physically disabled, he or she might experience undue ridicule or bullying from insensitive peers. Those who run the day care center might also lack the training needed to work with disabled children or children whose first language is not English. Parents may therefore want to monitor their child's progress at the child care center carefully before committing to a long-term program of care. Resources such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children can help parents identify high-quality, inclusive care environments.

There is no single cause for the AIDS crisis. However, a lack of proper medical funding in regions with populations most severely affected by the disease is a major driver of its proliferation. Large for-profit pharmaceutical corporations funnel far more money into marketing than into research and development, meaning that the search for a cure or a vaccine is often undermined by the pursuit of financial gain.