The Daycare Myth: What We Get Wrong About Early Care and Education (and What We Should Do About It) (Paperback)

“Dan Wuori not only identifies the myth at the heart of our system, but he empowers us, as readers, to help correct it.” —From the Foreword by Dana Suskind, TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health

“I wish I could put The Daycare Myth in the hands of every policymaker and new parent.” —Rachel Accurso, educator and host of Ms Rachel

"We'll be using this book for years to educate parents, policymakers, and the early childhood field." —Berna Artis, Artful Education Consulting

The Daycare Myth is written in plain yet provocative language by one of the most respected bipartisan policy experts.

For a century, America’s early childhood policy has been premised on a myth. This falsehood—which dictates that child care and education are somehow separate and distinct—not only suboptimizes the most important window into all human development, but costs American taxpayers an untold fortune. It’s time to think differently.

Written in plain yet provocative language by one of the field’s most respected bipartisan policy experts, The Daycare Myth makes the case for why the early years matter; why America’s longstanding early childhood policy approach sacrifices the needs of young children in favor of promoting adult employment; and why fixing the problem makes good sense, regardless of your place on the political spectrum.

With straightforward guidance for policymakers, practitioners, and parents, this incredibly timely book is a wake-up call for a nation that aspires to nothing less than the wholesale transformation of America’s early childhood landscape.

Book Features:

• Invites readers to rethink their very understanding of the early years by outlining a bipartisan case for change.
• Addresses the needs of policymakers, practitioners, and parents individually with practical implications and action steps for each.
• Melds policy with what the current science of brain development tells us about the importance of children’s early years and the critical role they play in future success.
• Challenges longstanding assumptions, calls out ineffective approaches, and outlines a new path beneficial to children and families, employers, state and federal economies, and society as a whole.