I really like my two-year-old daughter’s day care. The teachers are really friendly, the educational value is high, and she makes friends with kids her own age.

I like it so much I volunteered to be on the Board for our child care centre. I consider my daughter’s day care to be one of the important cornerstones of her early education.

In this post, I am hoping to dispel some of the fears parents have of day cares, what to look out for when looking for a day care, and the skills that my daughter is learning in her class.

Sending your kid to day care is not “child abuse”

I sometimes hear or read about the opinions of SAHMs or SAHDs about how sending your kids to day care is this horrible, irresponsible act that no self-respecting parent should even think about.

My experience sending my kid to day care is very different from this opinion. Since Victoria has been going to day care, she has learned so many skills and met so many developmental milestones that I attribute to her attendance there.

I think that this notion of day care being “child abuse” comes from the sight of kids screaming their heads off when being dropped off in the morning.

There certainly is an adjustment period that needs to happen when a child starts day care for the first time. During this adjustment period, there probably will be some crying. A kid who was cared for at home up until then would have some obvious separation anxiety.

When my daughter started day care, there was about a week or so where she would cry for several minutes after we dropped her off. Thereafter, she would just start participating with the other kids in their activities. After the week of adjustment, she didn’t cry anymore when we dropped her off.

We started Victoria off at day care just after she turned one. As she moved upwards through the different age groups and into different classes, she had to adjust each time, which again took about a week or so.

After each adjustment week, Victoria was just fine thereafter. When dropping her off at day care, she would just wave bye to us and run into her classroom to play with her friends.

Sure, a kid starting day care might have some adjustment period, but thereafter (as long as it is a good day care) then your kid should do just fine.

What to look out for in a good child care centre

Of course, day cares have different levels of quality. To be sure, there are many child care centres that are not up to code or have teachers who don’t care.

Obviously: send your kid to a good child care centre and avoid bad ones.

Here is a list of things that you want to think about when selecting a day care:

Is the day care licensed and of good reputation?

Is the Director of the centre passionate and hard-working?

Do the teachers greet each kid in the morning with a smile?

Is the food nutritious, and are the kids eating it voluntarily?

Are the kids playing together in a cooperative way?

Do they get plenty of outdoor activity time?

What do the other parents say about the day care?

Finding out about the day care prior to signing up is a critical first step. A good day care can be excellent for your little one’s education; however, a bad day care will hold him back. Select well!

Skills my daughter is picking up at her day care

I can identify the skills that my daughter is picking up at her day care pretty easily: these are the skills that pleasantly surprise my wife and me when she displays them.

Here are some of the things that my little one is learning at day care:

Learning to play well with kids her own age. Victoria learns how to initiate play and makes other kids feel welcome around her. This is especially important for her because she is (so far) an only child, and day care is the only place where she can spend time with kids her own age all day long.

Learning to interact well with adults. Victoria endears herself to adults by not being shy around them and saying things like “Hi”, “Please”, and “Thank you” in a really cute way. She learns this by being around adults other than her parents, such as her teachers and the day care support staff.

Sharing is caring! My daughter is starting to learn how to share with other kids, something that she has limited opportunity to learn at home.

English language. We are a bilingual household, though we speak more Korean than English at home. Victoria learns a huge amount of our English at day care. We know several other parents who exclusively speak their native language to their kids at home, so day care is the only place where they get English.

Assertiveness. Victoria is crazy assertive. Whenever another kid tries to grab her toy, she calmly picks up the other kid’s hand and moves it away. If another kid is aggressive towards her, she says, “Hey!” and doesn’t back down, but also doesn’t get aggressive in turn. I’m so proud of her. My kid’s got backbone.

Independence. One of my daughter’s favorite things to say is “I do it!” My wife and I have taught her to be independent at home, but she also learns how to take care of herself at her day care because her class has ten kids in it and the teacher is not always immediately available to help her out.

Singing, dancing, and art. I have a mountain of art projects stashed away and mounted on the walls. Victoria keeps producing tons of artwork every week. She also learns singing, dancing, gymnastics, and even yoga at her day care. Toddlers are crazy-good at yoga. They are super flexible!

These invaluable skills are all being taught at my little one’s child care centre. She is absorbing it all like a sponge.

To be sure, any toddler can learn these skills if staying at home with mom or dad. I am only saying that these are also taught very well at my kid’s day care.

I would suggest that some of these skills are actually better taught in the day care setting. For example, all of the social skills come naturally out of being in a class full of kids of the same age. For an only child, or an eldest child with a newborn at home, the only way to obtain social skills is being around a lot of kids all the time.

TLDR; Day care is an integral part of my kid’s education. I am thrilled whenever she learns a new skill from her day care. I think that any parent who sends their kid to an excellent day care is making an investment in their child’s development.

Your friend,

Anthony