The Relation of Peer Interaction among Infants and Toddlers in Family Day Care to Characteristics of the Child Care Environment

Much research has pointed to the importance of the quality of child-care for child development. However, comparatively little research has focused on family day care. This paper examines evidence concerning the relationship between characteristics of family day care and peer interaction. Results indicate that the nature of toddler-interaction can be understood better by considering both children's child-care history and parent-child interaction as well as characteristics of current childcare.