Many parents have seen countless arguments about the benefits and risks of sending a child to daycare, especially from an early age. While the negative press we often see about daycare itself can be enough to make some moms avoid it at all costs, many women (like single moms) don’t have the luxury of staying home with the kids full-time .
But, you know what? Not every day-care center is a bad place, and childcare is not bad for every child either. In fact, after my maternity leave ended, I sent my babies to daycare and they both did fine.
My child learned so much at daycare
Given the fast pace of K-12 education these days, children must possess so many skills before stepping foot in a kindergarten classroom. Of course, you can teach your preschooler many of these skills from home — but they can also learn a lot by attending a daycare center that focuses on early childhood education.
In my child’s first three years of life, she learned basic sign language, colors and shapes, letter and number recognition, basic addition and subtraction skills, and how to spell her name. When she left the preschool classroom of her daycare center and entered the elementary school building for the kindergarten, she could already read and write simple sentences. I was amazed at how much she knew, especially compared to many of the elementary school students I taught in my music class.
While academic achievement was impressive in and of itself, I think I was even more impressed by the social-emotional development that was taking place in my child’s daycare. My child learned from a young age how to express their feelings towards us in a healthy way, which was incredibly helpful in moments when it was difficult to tell whether they were angry, upset or afraid. My daughter also learned to show kindness and empathy towards her classmates, a skill she still displays as a senior in elementary school.
While I could have taught many of these skills at home in one form or another, I think learning with peers has really enhanced my child’s overall learning experience.
I believe that the daycare has helped my child to develop socially
While learning is important for young children, I don’t think it is the most important gift that day care centers offer children, especially toddlers and preschoolers. Instead, I think it’s something much more fundamental and universal: socialization.
By sending my child to kindergarten from the age of 6 months, I have given him the perfect environment to develop a wide range of social skills that he could never develop at home. By being surrounded by several other children of her own age, my daughter had to learn how to properly communicate and coexist with them—something that children who stay at home until they enter public school may or may not learn.
My kid had to learn how to share, express himself, wait in line and much more. She also experienced daily exposure to parallel play and later cooperative play. Playing with their peers offers so many benefits to children and I think her early exposure to these skills has ultimately enabled her to get along with anyone and everyone as soon as she walks through the doors of her kindergarten classroom.
In addition, my child learned about the differences between children and how these differences do not make us more or less important than others, but make us unique in our own way. She has been exposed to children with different hair colors, different skin tones, different abilities and different family situations – all of which make us who we are. Those early encounters with people who look and sound different can certainly help in teaching inclusion, and I strongly believe that was the case with my child, who even now still values equality and inclusion for all.
I still have a bond with my baby
nastasia Gepp out pixel
As you can see I am very convinced of the benefits of day care for young children. However, many people still argue that these benefits come with a heavy price: your connection with your child. While it’s reasonable to assume that child care would negatively impact parent-child relationships by allowing parents to spend less time with their children, I don’t think that’s actually the case. In fact, I know for a fact that despite the time she spent in daycare, I still had a connection with my child.
As a working mom, I had to set firm boundaries to keep work at work—and I did. When I picked my child up from daycare in the afternoon, I made sure to spend time focusing solely on her before starting dinner or throwing in a load of laundry. On the weekends, I made a point of scheduling time and activities for my child to allow us to bond and connect. I’ve redeemed vacation days for fun activities and even scheduled special “mommy and me” days with all my kid’s favorite things.
When I talk to other parents and look at how they treat their children, I really can’t tell much of a difference between my approach and theirs, even for stay-at-home moms. I think this is largely because time itself only does so much to help build a healthy bond, and the emotional connection you can form with your child comes as long as you make an effort to show your child that you love it – even if you’re a full-time working mom.
So you can stop all the comments about how stay at home moms are the best and how harmful childcare is to children because I sent my kids to daycare. And you know what? They just got good.
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