Host: Is it important that childcare be licensed?

Dr. Diana Zuckerman: It's very important that childcare be licensed. Now, it's one thing if your mother is taking care of your children. If you know your mother well enough hopefully, you know whether she will be good at this job or your sister or your cousin, if it's a relative that you know really well or even a friend, but somebody who you have seen raise children, but also you have seen with other people's children then licensing of course, is not such a big issue, but you should never be putting your child in the care of a stranger or someone who you don't know well who is not licensed. It really isn't safe for your child both, in terms of safety day to day but in terms of development. You want your child to learn to speak, to learn to do things and you want to really know what's going on and you want to make sure that that person caring for your child is trained enough and has a home or environment that's safe enough for them. So I really do urge parents to be very choosy about where they put their children. It's a big part of that child's day and those first three years of life are years of the major brain development of your child. So, let's make sure that they are going to be stimulated and happy during that time.