A generation of 'little savages' raised in nurseries: daycare linked to aggression in toddlers

Psychologist Oliver James, best selling child rearing book author, has warned that parents placing children in nursery has led to a generation of violent ‘little savages’.

Mr James pointed to a study in America which tracked youngsters for 15 years. It showed a correlation between the hours placed with nursery to increased aggression and bad behaviour, reported by both parents and nursery workers.

‘Studies show there is a direct link between how many hours you spend in daycare up to the age of four and a half and how aggressive you are.’

‘No one can deny that daycare increases aggressiveness of toddlers. A toddler raised at home with a single carer is six times less likely to be aggressive than one enduring more than 45 hours a week daycare and the more daycare a child has, the greater the aggression. This aggression is sustained and predicts greater problems in primary schools.’

Daily Mail

He bases his opinion on a study by the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development childcare (Link) which shows that 40% of boys and girls at daycare had elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Girls with increased cortisol were anxious and vigilant at child care, while the boys were more angry and aggressive.

While I understand that many mothers are forced to go out and work by economic circumstances, there should be no surprise in this finding that children are more aggressive and anxious when raised by a nursery worker, rather than their mother.

Don't children deserve the best start in life?

Originally posted by ollncasino
While I understand that many mothers are forced to go out and work by economic circumstances, there should be no surprise in this finding that children are more aggressive and anxious when raised by a nursery worker, rather than their mother.

Don't children deserve the best start in life?

And this is why America 2013 SUCKS EGGS compared to America 1950s. In the name of full disclosure, I have been blessed with a profession which allows my wife to stay home and raise our children, barely. It is a sick, sad world where a professional engineer who would have been tickling the bottoms of upper class feet 60 years ago must now be content with the fact that at least he makes enough to financially support his family without needing to send children to day care.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


I agree but I think this gets exaggerated to a point. Not saying you have it easier than you think or anything like that, but 60 years ago people didn't have Dishnetwork, or cell phones, or internet etc. A lot of the things we pay for these days weren't things we paid for back then. Even food, soap, etc. Most people were more conservative with their money than the norm now.

It's our culture, as much as inflation, that makes it hard to live on one salary.

That said, there's no way I could support a family on my salary (it's meager, but above minimum wage). There's still a lot I could cut though.

I wonder if the correlation actually has more to do with the amount of kids living with single parents (or primarily one parents after a divorce) these days. I'd wager a good majority of those kids wind up in daycare.

Could be that it has nothing to do with daycare and everything to do with the kind of environment that makes a parent have to put the kids in daycare in the first place.

I wonder if he took the time to break down parenting situation and socioeconomic class.

reply to post by ollncasino


Do you know what? I think a lot of that report is bumpkin!!! I have two children who have already gone through two years of nursery, two and a half hours per day and I have a wee boy who goes every week day for two n a half hours just now. My oldest is 12 and my youngest is 3. My first point is the nursery you send them to. What disipline tools do they have? What are the teachers like? What is the catchment area for the nursery?

The parents I have seen coming and going over the last 9 years has changed dramaticly. From alchies to junkies to the ones who think their better than everyone else and slap their children when they think no one see's.

Nurseries are hard pressesd, they get crap children through the doors and they have to work out how to teach the fundamentals of good behavior.

reply to post by ollncasino


It's more than likely (however marginal), that a causal linkage between hours spent in day care and the development of "fight or flight" type behaviours would be identified and attributed to those critical and formative years.

This part of the artical is of more relevance though...

But the same study showed that this was a small effect compared with the quality of parenting.

Originally posted by Whosthatgirl

Nurseries are hard pressesd, they get crap children through the doors and they have to work out how to teach the fundamentals of good behavior.

Yes, I don't doubt for one moment that there are wider problems in society in general.

One perspective however is, are children more likely to be aggressive if they attend nursery rather than are raised at home by their mothers?

The American research points towards 40% of children finding nursery a stressful experience with a corresponding rise in aggressive behavior in the boys.

Stress isn't good. Especially at a young age.

Well, that wasn't my experience at all. I worked until my daughter started public school, so she was in daycare the first five years of her life. Being an only child, and living in a neighborhood that didn't have children her age, I think the daycare was the best place for her. She learned to socialize with other children, she learned to be independent away from me (she learned not to be "clingy" to Mommy), and I think it made it much easier to transition to school.

The only negative for me was all the bugs she caught, especially the first year. Seems like she was constantly sick. The good part about that was, she built up her immunity, so that by the time she started public school, she hardly got sick at all. The kids who didn't go to daycare had a much harder time being away from their mom, and they were just starting to catch and share bugs and viruses, so they were missing critical days of learning at school.

I was lucky in that I found a wonderful daycare. It was relatively small, and the turnover of teachers (and children) was very low. My daughter grew up with the same kids and teachers over her years there, and she felt like they were family. I cried when it was her last day there, because I knew I would miss the teachers I had come to know very well.

Oh, and my daughter is 11 now, and is one of the least aggressive kids I know.

I think there are too many uncontrolled factors here to say "no one can deny" as the study says. What is the socio-economic life of those children at home? Are they single children or do they have siblings? Youngest? Oldest? Both parents in the home? On and on.

Now if that study examines all those factors and all the outcomes are the same, then it could be a connection but still tenuous at best because now you have to study how the parents raise their children, are they strict? religious? secular?

I would like to see the actual study and how they handled a control group to come up with these findings. Until then, they justified their conclusions by seeking the data they wanted.

It's natural for a child to stay with it's mother. A parent will naturally teach their own child the social skills and tools they will need in life - but it's not so important to the daycare minder whose only motivation for taking care of your kids, is so she can help pay the bills at home.

Gov wants all the tax revenues these working mums bring in, because tax money is more important to it than your families' social well-being.

We'll soon be a nation of socially-impaired adults with no sense of family loyalty and no family bonding - Maybe this is what government wants for us.

Moms are supposed to raising kids,sometimes dads do it. They've done many studies on this and its part of the child psychology text. Known for years. 40% of all children in full time daycare in their first year, AND I've read longer, develop separation anxiety. 80% of those become sociopaths. The Vicitims Assistance counselor who had spent time in the Lower Mainland and in court frequently, said this was stamped over most of the cases there.

Our premier was going to copy one of the States, Wisconsin I believe, who forced women to work even before they stopped bleeding, just after childbirth, and who has had infant mortality rise, not to mention the sociopathic fallout from this abuse of humanity, and the the doctors said no.

You're supposed to put the needs of Children first and support families single or otherwise.

Originally posted by doobydoll
We'll soon be a nation of socially-impaired adults with no sense of family loyalty and no family bonding - Maybe this is what government wants for us

Soon? We're there now, my friend. The family currently takes hind teat to the self in many communities. "Why should I put MY career on the back burner for my children?" "Why should I put MY kids above [b]MY need to party?" "ME ME ME, I I I, blah blah blah." This is the horsecrap pushed by MTV and all the other garbage TV shows which cater to the selfish bullcrap that passes for a view of American culture these days. They've gone from June Cleaver to Snooki in terms of the female and, along the way, they've feminized the male figures to the point where they might as well just complete the cycle and start having most of the males on TV take estrogen treatments.

I also am noticing a clear trend in this thread... if you had your child(ren) in day care, clearly your experience was different and positive. That strikes me as likely being more of a coping mechanism or rationalizing effort than reality.

An article that says that there is still hope.

FRIDAY, Feb. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Parents who send their children to day care may be able to breathe a sigh of relief. New research finds that children in child care do not have an increased risk of behavioral problems.

Link