Grandparents take better care of kids.
According to a new study published in the latest issue of Pediatrics, if your child care situation involves grandparents, you can rest easy knowing they are in good hands. In fact, they might be safer with their grandparents than they are with you!Contrary to common wisdom that suggests grandparents are too far removed from the realities of child rearing to understand and protect children from injury and harm, the study find that quite the opposite is true. Analyzing data from the National Evaluation of the Healthy Steps for Young Children Program, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health determined that children are less likely to be injured when in the care of grandma than in other situations. That’s right, grandma takes better care of the little ones than organized day care centers, other relatives and even stay at home moms.
The reasons for this aren’t clear, but we could speculate for days. Grandma might be less distracted than professional caregivers and even moms. Maybe grandma keeps the kids on a shorter leash and therefore out of harm’s way. Whatever the reason, this should be comforting news for the increasing number of families who depend on grandparents to provide regular child care.
For more info, go to http://www.parentdish.com/2008/11/05/grandparents-take-better-care-of-the-kids/ or
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/kids-safest-under-grandparents-care/
