For many families, daycare is more of a necessity than a luxury because many households need two incomes to get by financially. For others, where this is not the case, it becomes a personal choice to add to the income stream and provide comfort to all members of the house. Regardless of the reason behind it, daycare has become something that many people need and use every day. In fact, it is a reassurance for many parents that with all their commitments, their children will be properly looked after.
Daycare doesn’t just benefit the parents, though. There are several benefits for the children as well.
Regular Schedule and Activities
Daycare provides a fixed schedule for the children to follow. Even younger children who are not yet aware of the concept of time have a schedule full of activities to keep them busy and help aid their intellectual development. These schedules activities also make it easier for parents who don’t have to worry about erratic behavior at the end of the day.
Academic Advancement
Research has found that time spent in high-quality daycares results in higher cognitive power and academic scores as teens. By spending time in daycare, children are more likely to grow up with the skills and smarts they need to excel in later parts of their lives.
Social Interaction
Daycare provides children with the interaction they’d need with their peers to be able to build the social skills they’d need in later parts of their lives. When interacting with others their own age, children learn how to solve problems, share, and play together, while their minds are still growing and thus shape their personalities according to these interactions.
Interaction With Adults
When children are young, their interaction with adults is mostly limited to parents and members of their family, such as grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Daycare gives them an opportunity to interact with other adults, see them as mentors who can guide them positively, and build better relationships with these adults so that later in life, when these children need support or encouragement, they have someone to turn to. These adults are also able to provide them with much-needed values and ideals that they should follow throughout their lives. Mt. Elizabeth Academy is a faith-based school and that incorporates religious education for children starting from a young age so they can internalize these values and hold them close as they grow up.
Transition to Kindergarten
Daycare provides kids with several changes in their regular life that often become what many children dread about preschool or kindergarten if they have not yet been exposed to them. Thus, by attending daycare, children get social skills, independence, and the chance to leave their houses and stay away from their parents for longer stretches of time, which allows them to adjust better when they eventually start attending school.
Daycare can seem like a nerve-wracking experience for many parents, despite the social and economic benefits it provides. However, by doing a little bit of research into your daycare’s staff and day-to-day operations, you can feel more at ease about leaving your child at daycare, and your child can benefit from it as well.
