In order to be able to live a decent life and provide their families with comfort, in most cases both parents work, as people usually need two incomes to get by. And if you have a young child and your maternity/paternity leave is about to end, you should be thinking about the care for your child. The two most convenient and popular options include hiring a nanny and enrolling your child in a daycare centre. Hiring a good and reliable nanny can be tricky, as it’s difficult to find a person who will take care of your kid properly. Not to mention that it is not a cheap option. On the other hand, enrolling your kid in a daycare centre has plenty of social, economic and educational benefits. Take a look at some of the benefits of daycare for young children.
1. It provides your children with a regular schedule and carefully planned activities
One of the proven benefits of putting your child in daycare is the fact that the centre of this kind provides your children with a regular schedule and carefully planned activities. It means getting up at the same time every day, starting with the same activities, having breakfast, lunch and snacks at the same time every day – basically following a pattern. Children get used to this pattern, maybe not right away, but soon enough. As for the carefully planned activities, a daycare is a good option as your child gets the chance to be guided by people trained to do this job well and to be taught different skills through various cognitive exercises such as singing, dancing, storytelling, drawing and many others. A quality daycare centre is about variety and structuring.
2. It develops their academic skills and prepares them for school
Some studies that were conducted, investigated the connection between academic achievement and attending a daycare. They found that children who attended daycare at a very young age had higher academic and intellectual achievement than the children who didn’t do so. It was concluded that this is so due to the overall quality of the daycare and its staff as well as the variety of cognitive-boosting activities they are exposed to.
3. Children learn how to communicate with other kids as well as adults
Learning how to communicate is an essential skill that is taught at an early age. In order to learn how to communicate effectively, children need to spend time with their peers in a safe, structured and supervised environment. And what is the best way to achieve this? Well, by having your child attend a childcare centre. By interacting with each other, children start acquiring some basic principles of effective communication. In these everyday situations, children learn how to play with each other, how to solve some issues, how to compromise and share toys. Attending daycare teaches them how to be a part of a group. This kind of learning environment is difficult to achieve at home regularly. Of course, you can and should organize playdates for your child, but that wouldn’t happen daily.
4. It’s a more affordable option
Having your child attend a daycare centre instead of hiring a nanny is definitely a more affordable option. Plus, you don’t have to think about some unpredicted health issues which can cause your nanny’s absence from work for a day or even more. When your child attends daycare, it as an institution has other options in mind when it comes to problems like these.
5. It strengthens kids’ immune system
Plenty of research has also been done on the topic of child health and attending a daycare. Children usually get sick and pick up different infections during their daycare period. Even though it’s never good when your kid is sick, in this case, it’s better sooner than later. This means that by picking up different germs from other kids in daycare, children actually strengthen their immune systems by overcoming these minor illnesses. This prevents them from often getting sick during elementary school. This is beneficial as it’s easier to go through these illnesses when the child is young and thus not going to miss out on some important school topics.
6. Children learn how to behave in different social situations
A quality daycare centre teaches children how to behave in numerous social situations. For example, it teaches them how to dress and undress, how to put on shoes, where to store things afterwards, how to behave at the table and how to maintain hygiene, among other things. It also teaches children how to apologize, ask for something politely, speak about their problems, and so on. Sometimes it’s difficult to get your children to eat some particular foods and by attending daycare and having breakfast and lunch there, they might get used to eating some of the most hated vegetables such as broccoli, kale and cauliflower. By seeing their peers and caregivers eat them, there is a high possibility that they will too.
7. Scientists proved that kids who attend daycare when they’re young are more likely to get a college degree
Studies show that kids who go to a daycare centre are four times more likely to obtain a college degree and remain constantly employed. So, a daycare centre might be seen as a good base for the future prosperity of your child.
Even though some children require a certain amount of adjustment period, when they get used to this idea and realize that they’re actually having fun at the daycare as well as that they like going there, you might be facing another problem – them not wanting to leave!
