This paper investigates the impact of attending early childcare on the quality of parent–child interactions and children’s cognitive outcomes. Our strategy is to identify geographical differences on the basis of exposure to the program, using the period when the program was implemented across Algerian municipalities as a control for individual early childcare attendance. We estimate our results using 2SLS regression analysis and employ a difference-in-difference strategy. We use two Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys conducted in 2006 and 2012. Our results indicate a positive correlation of preschool on the cognitive development of children. In turn, the effect is only significant given the quality of interaction between mother and children. Therefore, this finding suggests that there is a substitution effect taking place, as mothers can utilize newly acquired time relieved from childcare to accomplish other pursuits. These findings call for future research on parents’, especially mother’s, time use when their children attend early childcare.

本文研究了早期保育对亲子互动质量和儿童认知结果的影响。我们的策略是根据该计划的暴露程度来确定地域差异，以该计划在阿尔及利亚各市实施的时期作为控制各个早期托儿服务的时间。我们使用2SLS回归分析估算结果，并采用差异差异策略。我们使用了2006年和2012年进行的两次多指标类集调查。我们的结果表明，学龄前儿童与儿童的认知发展呈正相关。反过来，只有在母子互动的质量下，这种影响才有意义。因此，这一发现表明存在替代效应，母亲可以利用从育儿中获得的新获得的时间来完成其他任务。这些发现要求将来对父母，尤其是母亲在孩子上早育时的时间使用进行研究。