Preschool Children

In countries around the world, with a few exceptions, crude birth rates have been declining; with especially dramatic drops in recent years. This has meant that in many societies around the world, there are fewer preschool-aged children than in the past. Some of the drop in fertility has been associated with women's rising levels of education and participation in paid work. This has resulted in more women postponing or deferring of motherhood, and having fewer children. In industrialized nations, many women are also choosing to postpone or decline legal marriage; and if they do marry, they are more likely than in the past to have the option to legally dissolve unhappy unions. Changes in the number and timing of children, the formation and dissolution of marriages and common-law unions, and changes in women's labor force participation rates have all affected the experiences of preschool-aged children, especially in industrialized nations.

Young children residing in Canada, for example, are much more likely than ever before to be raised by mothers who are older, more educated and working for pay. For some children, living in two-career or two-earner families has meant more economic stability; but child poverty rates remain high in many industrialized nations. Because of more one-child families, children are more likely to be surrounded by adults, and more likely to spend more time with their parent(s) than in the past.

There is a growing body of research, from neurobiology on brain development to large national studies, that has stressed the importance of investing in the early years of a child's development. This prolific research shows that the early years are critical to children's future development and outcomes, and that the type of nurturing and stimulation a child receives during his/her first few years can have a major, lifelong impact. At the same time, the growth in this type of information has amounted to increased attention, pressure, and stress on parents, with often little support from the state, especially in liberal welfare states.

Today, the family adaptation model of parenting seems to prevail, where both mothers and fathers are expected to navigate the pressures of paid and unpaid work, and adapt to multiple and complex schedules [Page 1026]that include an adequate amount of family time. With more mothers working for pay, more expectations have been placed on fathers (in heterosexual families) to get involved in parenting. This has come to be labeled the compensation model. Having said this, mothers are still more likely than fathers to spend more time in day-to-day, direct care of children.