The Pat Kenny Show Are kids better off being looked after at home or in afterschool care?
Nov 20, 2025
Stella O'Malley, a psychotherapist and author, joins to discuss intriguing research on after-school care and child development. She highlights how structured care can enhance reading skills and sports participation compared to staying at home. Stella contrasts the warmth of familial care with the professionalism of child care and warns about the negative impact of excessive screen time on social skills. They also explore socioeconomic factors influencing childcare choices and suggest a potential backlash against device-heavy childhoods.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Structured Time Boosts Skills
- Children in after-school programmes show slightly higher reading and vocabulary scores and join organised sports more often.
- Stella O’Malley links this to structured activities and peer interaction that childcare settings provide.
Enforce Phone-Free Afterschool
- Be proactive about enforcing phone-free time for children during after-school hours.
- Stella O’Malley recommends active vigilance to prevent devices from creeping in at home.
Quiet Home Doesn’t Equal Healthy Development
- Excessive device use at home can produce socially anxious, less experienced children despite seeming quiet and easy to mind.
- Stella warns that the 'electronic babysitter' creates deceptive short-term calm with long-term social costs.
