Modern parents experience more documented physical and psychological stress related to the provision of childcare than have any on record thus far. Statistics show that as a number of working mpothers has surged in the 1980s and the 1990s, the problems of negotiating the dual demands of work and home have also sharply increased in both complexity and number. The average working mother spends 40 hours a week in employment outside the home and another 36 caring for children and the home. Her average weekly commute has risen ten hours within the 1990s. More than ever, the emotional welfare of families depends on good daycare. In this revised and expanded edition of her study of 1982, Alison Clarke-Stewart draws on extensive research to survey the social, political and economic landscape of daycare between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. Her evaluation of the current status, options and consequences of daycare are designed to enable parents to make informed choices for their children and provides a glimpse of how their choices will affect future generations.

The subject is approached from several angles: comparisons of past and present as well as American and global practices and reviews of the latest research into the effects of daycare on children's development. The text also looks at the emergence and current state of institutional daycare in both corporations and schools. As she explores the social and emotional environment for this field, the author lays out all the necessary ingredients for success and offers a checklist parents can use to assess their own arrangements.