When I had my first born I wanted to stay home with her forever and ever. I loved every minute of our 3 months together but my gig staying home didn’t last. Luckily I had planned everything out and had an awesome caregiver lined up. As the years went on I continued to have to work so every year my daughter went to daycare. I learned though that there are many advantages of sending kids to daycare.
Waving “bye-bye” to Mommy on his first day in the 2’s class!
*Less Separation Anxiety: Kids that go to daycare get used to being dropped off with other people. As hard as it is for Mom, the kids become less anxious about Mom not being there. They may have trouble at first but they do get used to it. Since my daughter was used to me having to drop her off at daycare this made it easier for me to leave her at Sunday School and with relatives.
*Independence: Kids going to daycare and day school have to learn some things on their own. Mom isn’t there every second doing everything for them. Teachers have a room full of kids so they cannot do every single thing for every single kid. I teach preschool right now and I’m teaching my kids to put their things away and put on their jackets themselves. It’s not an easy task but the kids to learn. This will help them down the road learning to do more things themselves.
*Socializing: This one is huge. When your kids are in daycare they are around other kids and adults all the time. They are hearing language and learning problem-solving skills. They are sharing and learning how to be nice. My daughter is very social and I know it’s because of all of her years in daycare! She can easily talk to anyone at anytime.
*Learning: At daycare, your kids are learning all day long! I know that pre-schools and daycares are teaching our kids great things. This will really help prepare them for kindergarten. Yes, children learn at their own pace but being surrounded by letters and numbers will only help them.
*Immunity: One thing is for sure, being around little kids means being germs. Your kids are going to get sick. Sometimes you’ll get the dreaded phone call that your lovely child got sick at daycare when they were totally fine that morning. It happens. The good thing though is that when they are sick as little ones I do think it helps build their immunity down the road. My daughter didn’t miss any sick days in 1st grade and in 2nd grade! That’s huge!
*Life Skills: Even if your child goes to part time daycare or preschool they are still learning life skills. In my school, our kids learn manners, how to share, how to help clean up, and other problem-solving skills that they might not get at home.
I’m only speaking from my own personal experience. With my daughter, I had to go back to work and teach full time. As sad as I was she did learn a lot. Now I’m seeing the differences with my son. With him, I was able to work part time so he attended a part-time day school. He’s super attached to me because he’s with me more at home. No matter what work situation you are in when you have kids, just know that they are learning a lot!
Are you a working Mom? See my Advantages of Being a Working Mom post! Are you a SAHM? Come read my Advantages of Being a Stay at Home Mom.
Julie S. says
yes yes yes!
Shannon says
As hard as it is, my kids have learned a lot!
helenalemon says
I love this post! No mom has the same circumstances, but the majority of them want to do right by their children. This is a great list of some of the advantages a child receives when mom has to work!
Shannon says
Thank you! I really haven’t had an option with my work. We need my income to help us survive but my kids have learned a lot!
Tiffany Locke says
Being able to have your children learn things on their own is a great benefit of daycare. Having a professional teacher who is experienced and knows how to help children learn what they need would be very useful. I would imagine that daycare would be a great place to have kids start learning earlier so that they will be prepared for school and do better in their classes.