ABSTRACT
The child psychologist conceded, “institutions can be engineered to provide relatively wholesome environments for children, while many families that provide relatively poor care-giving environments are not readily changed.” The “mothering” issue moved into the public as well as professional limelight during the 1940s and 1950s when several investigators called attention to the potential harm of placing very young children in residential institutions. Placement in an industrial or commercial zone sounds convenient and logical, but in fact it usually means a long trip morning and evening for the young child. A day-care center in the local neighborhood, near home, makes it easier to coordinate day care with other social, health, and educational programs for children. It lets the child associate during the week with the same playmates he has on weekends and vacations. Of course any child-care program depends for its goals on those child behaviors generally considered valuable by a given society.
