This statement, one of the principles of Early Childhood Care and Development, acts like a warning to parents – if you don't teach your children more, and sooner, they'll miss out. It's no wonder parents scramble to hire tutors for their four-year-olds while searching for the best pre-schools around.

But don't panic.

The research isn't meant to bombard anybody. It's just there to look into how children develop, how they learn to learn, from birth to about age eight.

The experts say this is the most rapid stage of development in human life. It is when children learn to perceive three-dimensional space, to think in terms of the past, present and future, to comprehend concepts of language and numbers, and, of course, to walk on two feet.

To think that a three-year-old girl is changing and growing at a much faster rate than her mom and dad can be intimidating. But parents who have decided to take an active role in helping her through it have already given her a head start over kids who don't get that kind of support. The most up-to-date research confirms what many of us already suspected, that the more we encourage children to learn when they're young, the better they'll be at learning later on.

The problems arise when the experts try to determine the best way to do this.

One of the most controversial issues facing early childhood educators is whether a child should be given academic instruction early or whether attention to academic skill building should be left for Grade 1 and after.

Some experts say yes to pushing kids out of the nest and into the classroom at an early age. But others will give the less-is-more argument, saying too much formal education may actually inhibit a child's cognitive and social skills.

Disagreements like this are understandable in a field as young as early childhood development. Unlike physics with its 300-year-old images of Sir Isaac Newton, or mathematics that can be traced back to Ancient Greece and the building of the pyramids in Egypt, Early Childhood Care and Development was brought into this world only about a century ago.

A key figure is Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget who, in the early 1900s, found that children simply don't think like grown-ups – they have their own kind of logic and order which they use to learn.

His research included examining how children learn about movement and perception (such as learning to see and hold objects), how they start thinking about events that aren't in the immediate present, and how they eventually pick up languages and learn to count and classify objects.

Piaget's theories are seen as revolutionary to say the least. His almost 75 years of work helped foster the creation of scientific fields such as developmental psychology, cognitive theory and what is known today as genetic epistemology.

Other significant figures include Lev Vygotsky, a Russian scholar who looked at the "hidden processes" involved in cognitive development, and Erik Erikson, a U.S. psychoanalyst and educator who defined eight stages of development that people progress through during a lifetime.

The field has come a long way in a short time. But there's so much information now, parents trying to figuring out what's best for John Jr. can often find themselves feeling like a kid lost in a department store.

Perhaps the best thing to do is begin with the basics.

The Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and Development, an international group aimed at improving the living conditions for children, sums up some important principles as follows:

• Learning begins at birth
  
• The first six years of a child's life determine his or her ability to learn from then on
  
• Learning difficulties can be avoided with proper nutrition, nurturing, mental stimulation and interaction
  
• Children learn best when they're in a healthy environment and when they interact with people on a regular basis
  
• A child's physical, mental, social and emotional development are all related, with changes in one affecting changes in the others
  
• Supporting a child during development from an early age will have immediate and long-term benefits

From these principles, studies become more specific, examining questions such as: Does pre-school really give kids a head start? What are the results of growing up in a family with two working parents? Do young children learn better by playing or within a structured program? And, of course: Is spanking bad?

There are thousands of qualified experts who've completed hundreds of studies that give varied responses to these kinds of queries. Different parents will find different pieces of advice useful depending on their own philosophy about how they should raise their child.

The first covered wages, working conditions and practices in child care and uses 1998 figures. A mail survey was sent to 848 directors and 4,154 teaching staff in all provinces.

The second studied 234 child care centres and uses 1998 figures.

The third studied 231 family child care providers and uses 1999 figures. These last two studies covered B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Yukon.

The three studies cost a total of $973,033, with funding from Human Resources Development Canada.

The studies give a series of questions parents could ask themselves when evaluating child care.

They conclude that a child care centre is likely to be high quality when:

1. Staff have two years or more training in Early Childhood Education
2. Staff are better paid (which leads to less turnover and more stability)
3. Staff morale and satisfaction are high
4. The centre includes student teachers from Early Childhood Education college programs. (The reports say student teachers present at the centre mean better child/adult ratios, extra supervision for the children and better training for the teacher)
5. The centre receives free or subsidized rent or mortgage which frees up money for salaries
6. The centre charges higher parent fees, again to support higher salaries
7. The centre is run as a non-profit organization.

They say a family child care home is likely to be high quality if:

1. The caregiver has more years of overall general education, coupled with child care specific training and experience
2. The caregiver's own income is sufficient
3. The caregiver networks with other family child care providers
4. The caregiver expresses high levels of satisfaction with his/her work
5. The caregiver expresses the intention to stay in the field of child care for at least another three years.

The report rated the use of child-related material in the centres including:

• Materials for fine-motor play (Lego, threading, bead work)
  
• Materials for gross-motor play (slides, swings, riding toys)
  
• Dramatic play (dress-up material)
  
• Problem-solving (puzzles)
  
• Art (paint, clay, collage)
  
• Literary (picture books, story books, writing and drawing materials)
  
• Exploratory materials (sand table, water table)
  
• Cultural awareness (stories and pictures about different ethnic groups)
  
• Accessibility and materials for children with special needs

Infant-toddler care requires higher adult ratios, a minimum of one adult to three children and thus is more costly than caring for older children.

The average annual wage for a child care worker in Canada in 1998 was, according to the report, $22,717. The report compared that to the average wage for a parking lot attendant, of $21,308. On a Canada-wide basis, 22 per cent of child care staff quit their jobs each year, and most who leave do not stay in the child care field.

Seven out of 10 mothers with children under six are in the paid workforce.

About nine out of 10 working mothers return to work within one year after giving birth.