n talk to it (Alston, 1984, p. 125). As the infant gets a bit older, and begins to learn to walk and talk, the day care worker needs to take new concerns into consideration. For example, It has been noted that social development during this phase will be improved if the day care worker understands the need of the infant for immediate attention from time to time. This is a normal stage in development even though it may at times be inconvenient to the worker. Therefore, when the infant at this level of development requires assistance, it is important for the day care worker to tend immediately to that need or to have one of the older children help out if they cannot. The importance of this in the social development of the child can be seen in the fact that.
". . . babies at this age still need a good deal of comfort and support. If they receive it when they need it, they can go on to become independent and busy. If they do not receive enough, they become more needy of attention and less and less able to entertain themselves" (Alston, 1984, p. 133).
Because of this factor, the day care center must be set up to attend to this need in the young child. Otherwise, there may be complications in the further social development of that child.
Many experts have stated that the day care setting gives young children the opportunity to begin early with the development of social skills, because they are actively involved with other children and with their adult caregivers. However, one study has shown that children in the day care setting are actually more inhibited around strangers than are children who have been raised at home. From this, it can be seen that the stressful situation of day care may result in a degree of "social inhibition with adults rather than social facilitation as might have been expected" (Rutter, 1982, p. 10).
Between the ages of two and five, the child makes even more rapid development in terms of soci...