Daycares get a lot of flack. Germs (germs, and more germs), strangers watching your kids, the rising cost, etc. While I don’t love the cost of daycare, I am learning to love daycare (yes, even the germs). Sure, no one is going to love my child like I can, but I know the teachers love her and know her idiosyncrasies just as well as I do, if not better. Daycare has definitely become a part of my village, and I am finding more and more reasons to love daycare everyday. So if you are a new mom stressing out over sending your little one daycare or even if you are a seasoned mother who still feels guilt about daycare, I’m sharing my list of eight reasons to love daycare.
1) Routine – It almost seemed too easy, even when my daughter went from two naps a day to one nap a day. Not only does my daughter almost always take at least an hour and a half nap, but she sleeps from 8:30 at night until 7:15 in the morning (or later). And while daycare may or may not have anything to do with clockwork sleep schedule, I am sure that her seamless daytime routine has only helped. She tells me when she’s hungry for a snack, when it’s lunch time, snack time again, etc. She’s even whipped me into a bit of a routine, and I love it!
2) Reliability – I never have to worry about having a place to take my daughter; daycare is (almost) always going to be open. Even if I really need to use a vacation day from work to run errands, I can still take her to daycare for a few hours just to get whatever I need to done, and it’s not a shock to her because she’d be there anyway. Not to mention, even when snow was closing down schools, daycares try to stay open as much as possible because they know parents still have to go to work.
3) Village – The teachers and staff pour their heart and soul into helping raise my child. Even though I miss my child when I’m at work, they always tell me they missed my daughter after a long weekend or vacation. Not to mention, some of the teachers bring their own kids to daycare, sacrificing time with their own child to look after mine.
4) Friends – One of the perks of daycare is that it comes with built-in friends for my daughter. She has eleven little playmates that she sees all of the time and talks about all of the time! As soon as we pull in the parking lot, she gets excited and starts shouting their names. It is beyond adorable.
5) Memories – I’m not the crafty type of party, but daycare has got me covered. They are always doing fun and cute things with the kids, and the kids enjoy every moment. My daughter never hesitates to let me put her down in the mornings when the paint is already out, and the teachers are saints for cleaning paint off all of those tiny fingers and toes.
6) Diversity – I love that she is exposed to a wide variety of other people and interactions. She witnesses interactions between the teachers, older and younger kids, and even gets to see the other parents picking up their own children. She’s at that age where she is absorbing everything and anything, and it makes me happy that she is surrounded by so many different people to teach her things, big and small.
7) Learning – For the longest time, my daughter would start chanting something that sounded something like an obscenity related to the word butt. It was a little bit of a sing-song, and I was confused as ever until one day, it dawned on me that she was singing “Ring Around the Rosie” and what I was hearing was “Ashes, ashes”…minus the h. I wish I could say I taught her that song, but I definitely didn’t. It’s a fun little game her and her friends at daycare had been playing, and I was a little stunned to say the least. And that’s just one of the many things that my daughter has learned at daycare. She has practically become a little parrot, and I know the environment she’s in only encourages her to continue learning and growing every day.
8) Germs – Oh, germs. There are times when I have hated daycare germs, i.e. when I’m still having to pay the weekly fee while missing a few days of work to take care of my daughter. But she has already built up quite the immune system. Don’t get me wrong, it took a while, but at probably about 18 months, she’s managed to avoid quite a few of the major illnesses, even things her own little friends were catching at daycare. And because I generally catch everything she catches, I’ve finally built mine back up as well (including missing the stomach bug that has gotten my husband twice in a month). Now excuse me while I go knock on some wood.
What is your favorite thing about daycare? Share with us in the comments!
I love this article! I am so happy we chose to do daycare. A couple more positive things are the friends I have met as well as my children. I love hanging out with the other moms because you quickly realize that you are not alone in this parenthood journey. Secondly, I enjoy having the help and advice from the teachers who know what should be expected of the kids at certain ages. “No more diapers, mom.” “No more sippy cups, mom.” “Are you reading everyday to these girls?” Etc.
Lastly, my child starts Kinder next year and she is more than ready thanks to her teachers. We can’t be any happier!
Thank you for this post! I love my daycare/preschool my 3 year old is in. He learns so much, has a great time and since he is an only child so far he gets socialization and skills he would not get at home. As a full town working mother/business owner (I own a veterinary practice in Knoxville) knowing he is in the best hands is a relief. I also love my daycare because my husband is the one who picks up and drops off and they never give him a hard time about being the “man” that does this. They fully support that he is the primary childcare provider when our son is not in preschool. There is no judgement with them! And our son has a great immune system now. He will now be ready for grade school and hopefully not miss a lot of school due to illness.
Thank you for your comments Stephanie! My husband is an office manager for a veterinary practice so I know how crazy those hours can be, especially when emergencies come in. My daughter practically has a superhuman immune system now from being in daycare; it was hard at first to get to that point when she was getting sick as an infant, but I could not be more grateful now!
I have been a childcare teacher for 9 yrs now, and one postive thing for me as a mommy & teacher is when I had my son I was prepared! I’ve seen fits, I dealt with whiney, I changed more diapers than he couldd ever use lol, different behaviors & Temperaments, also so blessed to bring my child to work with me i can skip my potty break and go get some loving from him, take him on my lunch breaks for specials days, close relationship with his teachers since we work together, he is more than prepared for “big” school, I know how is he in class to let his new teachers know that he is the class jokester and helper, as teacher u absolutely love each kids that walks into the door no where else will you work in place where someone is going to be so happy to see you that you get a daily hug, high five, a “special” gift (rocks, pennies, batteries, flowers, drawings)daycare is my second home I love it
Kayla, thank you for your comments. I love my daughter’s teachers, and I love that they get to see her in an entirely different environment than I do. Even yesterday one of the teachers told me that she acted like the oldest (even though she isn’t) and she’s very much the classroom helper, helping other kids put on their shoes, etc. It is SO special to me that these teachers take an interest in her, and I am really grateful for teachers like you! It is amazing me how teachers can be away from their own children and yet continue to shower others’ kids with the same adoration as your own.
[…] 8 Reasons to Love Daycare :: “Daycares get a lot of flack. Germs (germs, and more germs), strangers watching your kids, the rising cost, etc. While I don’t love the cost of daycare, I am learning to love daycare (yes, even the germs). Sure, no one is going to love my child like I can, but I know the teachers love her and know her idiosyncrasies just as well as I do, if not better. Daycare has definitely become a part of my village, and I am finding more and more reasons to love daycare everyday. So if you are a new mom stressing out over sending your little one daycare or even if you are a seasoned mother who still feels guilt about daycare, I’m sharing my list of eight reasons to love daycare.” […]
Not only does your child make friends but some of my closest friends are the teachers my now 11 year old daughter had at daycare years ago. I’m a stay at home mom now but when I needed daycare I was thankful I found one who loved my kids and treated them so well.