You’ve heard all the nasty rumours about child care, but you have to get back to work and you have no choice. But did you know there are benefits to sending your child to daycare?
If you consider some of these benefits, it will help you come to terms with your own decision whether you have a choice or not. If you can understand the ways children benefit from childcare, you will feel you are helping your child grow into a well-rounded, happy child instead of punishing the both of you by sticking him in daycare.
Babies need interaction with other children.
It’s never too early to start engaging him in activities with other children, whether they are other babies, toddlers or older children. Learning to interact with other children prepares a child for his first encounter with school.
A daycare environment is a perfect place to get a child used to other children, as s/he will have to do when s/he enters preschool or kindergarten.
Daycare is a gentler environment, there are fewer rules and more flexibility than schools may impose.
Benefits of Daycare
Social skills
Children benefit from childcare by learning self-control, how to get along with others, and how to share. They are initiated into the world of friendship.
Without daycare, they only know you; you are their whole world. What a shock to find one day around their 5th birthday, they will have to start school and will be away from you at great lengths during the day. Children benefit from childcare by expanding their world to include people other than their parents.
Separation anxiety
If a child has been in daycare there will be less chance of separation anxiety when they enter school.
As your child has become used to you being away from them; they have learned to make new friends and can be content without the undivided attention they normally get from you.
Learning the basics
Aside from learning socialisation skills, they may also have the opportunity to learn the basics such as the alphabet and numbers. A pre-preschool learning environment teaches your child a basic understanding of what will be expected once they enter kindergarten.
They will learn to listen and accept the information that will be thrust upon them in school. Entering school for the first time is challenging, children benefit from childcare by already having exposure to a classroom like environment.
Parents
Children benefit from childcare but it is really the parents that make the most difference in your child’s life.
When your child gets home from daycare after spending a long day away from you, they will want to tell you about their day.
Ask questions about friends and teachers. Children are capable of interacting with you no matter what age they are, and getting them to vividly describe their day is exciting, especially if the parent shows interest.
Of course, you are interested, aren’t you?
This child, a smaller version of yourself, is taking on the world a day at a time, and the choices and desires they have will be a direct reflection of you. Make the most of that opportunity while you can, children are only children once.
