Only twenty-five percent of children in America under the age of five are being cared for by a parent on a daily basis, leaving five million children to be strewn about in various forms of childcare every day (Coplin, 46). Out of these, a third are in day care centers, a quarter are in home day cares, and the rest are being cared for by a relative (Coplin, 47). This begs the question: If it is not the parents, who exactly is raising the future of America, and if child care is under a crisis as large as speculated, aren't all parents running a huge risk every time they drop of their kids on their way to work? Experts say that children are at a higher risk than ever because they're being cared for by untrained caregivers in unsafe environments; however, I don't believe that this is the case. I believe the biggest problem with day care is the absence of the parents, and the lack of responsibility they take in foreseeing and preventing potential developmental and emotional problems that their children face.
             Arguably, the biggest issue regarding day care is the cost factor. Of course, parents want the best care available for their children, but also for the lowest rates. Because this is so contradictory, generally parents feel that they have to choose between high quality and affordable care. The difference between high and low quality care can be simply the experience and education of the provider, or it can be determined by child-caregiver ratios or group sizes. The problem lies in that there is no one way to determine whether the child-care one chooses is the best available, so the easiest way to judge is by cost. Therefore, most parents assume that they get what they pay for- better care for a higher rate, or poor care for a lower rate. In 1997, for families who paid for child care, the average cost was $286 per month, or 9% of monthly earnings (Giannarelli). In this group, there were families who paid a great de...