AsianScientist (Mar. 12, 2025) – Parents strive to create a nurturing environment for their newborns. But with limited parental leave and work responsibilities calling, many parents have to place their little ones in group childcare.
Reassuring such parents, a recent study led by scientists from Tohoku University in Japan found that kids who received center-based childcare in their early years showed advanced overall development compared to those raised at home. Their findings were published in Scientific Reports.
In Japan, the traditional ‘Three-Year-Old-Myth’ continues to influence parenting choices, encouraging mothers, in particular, to stay home and care for their children until they turn three. While past studies have shown that early education and childcare enhance cognitive, motor and psychosocial development in toddlers, most of this research has been conducted in North America and Europe.
Cultural differences, diverse family dynamics and varying parenting values can all impact the environment infants grow up in. The research team led by Keita Kanamori, a graduate student, and Chiharu Ota, a professor from Tohoku University’s Department of Development and Environmental Medicine, thought that a large-scale study in the distinct cultural context of Japan could help settle the debate.
The researchers turned to the Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS), a government-led birth cohort study, which recruited 104,062 pregnant mothers between 2011 and 2014. Designed to track mother-child pairs across regions with varying levels of urbanization and land development, the data helps explore how different environmental factors shape children’s health and development.
The researchers analyzed the data from 39,894 mother-child pairs to survey the utilization of early childcare enrollment between six months and three years of age, comparing them to children who were only cared for at home.
Using the Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ)-3 scores, a screening tool for developmental delays, the study found that early childcare led to improvements across all five development areas examined: communication, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, problem-solving and personal-social skills. Toddlers who were raised at home in this period were noticeably behind in communication and personal-social abilities.
The authors suggest that early exposure to daycare encourages young children to build social connections, engage with a diverse range of people and take part in more physically and socially stimulating activities—key factors that could support their overall development.
However, with only a small percentage of children raised at home falling below the standard developmental cutoff values, the researchers note that at-home care is not necessarily limiting and has its own benefits. Still, their findings challenge the long-standing ‘Three-Year-Old-Myth’.
“Our key message is that both childcare facilities and home-based child-rearing are viable options, and families could choose what works best for them without guilt or anxiety,” said Ota.
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Source: Tohoku University ; Image: Shutterstock
The article can be found at Group childcare has a positive impact on child development from the Japan Environment and Children’s Study.
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