After School Care, Research Paper Example

Parents in the continuous struggle to dependable and quality child care for preschool children often err when they make assumptions that the worries about their child care will end when their children join elementary school. Such families should be informed about the importance of continued arrangements for after school care for the schooling children since the school day is shorter than work days and there are summer vacations, school holidays and teacher in service to worry about.

Programs such as African community youth program help to inhibit the vulnerability of our youth with in a community as they help to provide a safe haven for the schooling children .they provide homework assistance, life skills workshops in which they offer  educational support on topics like  teamwork, anti-bullying, self-esteem,  anti-drugs or alcohol as well as conflict resolution. Poor parents however are disadvantaged since they cannot afford additional childcare costs and hence there children end up in self care after school (web).

Studies have shown that self care for the children may contribute to problematic development because there are limited productive activities available for children when they are home alone. For instance a study by NELS found that television watching was proportional to the amount of time spent unsupervised after school with consequences of watching television being shown to affect children’s aggression and academic achievement. Such children who take care of themselves after school often  access to unscreened media which  puts the child at great risk of aping what they see and children may end up in drug abuse or engage themselves in sexual activities at an early age and hence the consequences(Goyette E. & Michele. 2000).

Deborah Belle carried out longitudinal qualitative study of children in Boston and found out that the after school programs p helped children engage in productive activities and avoid loneliness, boredom and fear they experience during the times they spend in self care. Self care has been consistently associated with problematic adjustment among children living in distressed circumstances like low-income families and dangerous inner city neighborhoods (Belle  D. 1999).. The Child Development Project conducted an investigation on associations between self care in the  first grade and developmental results  in sixth grade and  found  out that the relationships between first-grade self care and sixth-grade externalizing behavior problems  such delinquency and aggression  were more pronounced in children from low-income families compared to children from middle-income families (Marshall, Nancy, et al. 1997) .

In conclusion the after school care programs help to prevent children from negative influences they get from media since at these places the time they are involved in watching Television among others is minimal as the children are kept busy with productive activities and even if they get access what they watch is screened and they do it under supervision hence the risk is reduced .the programs also help incase the children’s resilience and thus help them in their development.

References

Belle D. (1999).The After School Lives of Children: Alone and with Others While Parents Work. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Goyette E. & Michele ( 2000) “Children’s After-School Arrangements: A Study of Self-Care and Developmental Outcomes.” Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community 20:55 – 67.

Marshall, Nancy, et al. (1997) “After-School Time and Children’s Behavioral Adjustment.” Merrill Palmer Research Quarterly 43:497 – 514.

Web. Youth Outreach Programs – The African Community Center – Denver .Retrieved 16 March 2010. .Available:http://www.africancommunitycenter.net/youthprogrammainnew.htm