| Abstract: | Results are presented from an extensive questionnaire administered to the mothers and caregivers of 40 infants who were in full-time daycare. Four general areas were explored: mother and daycare, mother-child relationship, mother and her work, and mother and family. Although most mothers described the decision to place their child in daycare as a difficult one, most did not feel that daycare had had a negative effective upon their infants. Mothers and caregivers both reported relatively few linkages between the daycare and home environments, with mother-caregiver contact quite limited in duration and content. Further, discrepancies between mother and caregiver perceptions suggested a possible need by mothers to see their infants' experience in more favorable terms. For example, caregivers described infants as being more distressed when first entering daycare than did mothers. |
