The first years of a child's life are fundamental to his development (Cohn). Placing a young child in day care could harm them more than you can imagine and could continue to have harmful effects in the future. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 13.4 percent of children under the age of five regularly attend day care, meaning that millions of children are impacted by the quality of care they receive in these centers. Some may argue that daycare is more beneficial to children than harmful and offers young children a social advantage. On the contrary, evidence will show that there are more harmful aspects of daycare than beneficial. American daycare centers not only have long-term harmful effects on a child's mental health, as well as social behavior, but most do not even provide high-quality care. Demonstrating the quality of care children receive, studies and statistics show how lacking in quality most American daycare centers are. Surprisingly, the National Institute of Child Health Development conducted a survey that showed that only 10% of daycare centers have high-quality care. The rest of the nurseries were rated fair or poor (Cohn). According to a federally funded study, children four and a half years old and younger who receive low-quality care will be more likely to have obedience and academic problems in the future than those who received high-quality care (Stein) . This means that most children who attend daycare in the United States tend to have obedience and academic problems as time goes by. In addition to the general ranking of daycare centers, the quality of these centers can be questioned by their caregiver-to-child ratio. Only a third of children... middle of the paper... ver, children who do not attend comprehensive educational environments in kindergarten will grow up to have less impulse control and have fewer difficulties in school (Cohn). In conclusion, American day care centers have long-term harmful effects on children's mental and social development and in most cases do not provide high-quality care. Most children who attend daycare in America receive low-quality care, which can be the cause of long-term obedience and academic problems. Additionally, if a child feels abandoned by their parents when placed in daycare, they may develop aggressive behavior and develop mental health problems. To improve the quality of daycare and reduce its harmful effects, change needs to happen. Making sure that caregivers are licensed and qualified, that they have enough caregivers, and that they establish a healthy standard program for daycare centers would be a good place to start.