Hot answers tagged daycare
20
This sounds totally inappropriate and a major warning flag. Both my children have been through numerous childcare centres/kindergartens/ELCs and none of them even had a television.
The American Academy of Pediatrics have "that parents should limit the amount of time their infants and toddlers spend in front of any sort of screen and reaffirmed earlier ...
14
We're still relatively new to the situation (7 months in; 3 if you discount the leave my wife and I took from work after our son was born), but we've definitely noticed some pros and cons, particularly in the daycare vs. nanny/SAH parent.
Pro
Socialization. We've definitely seen some real boost in developmental growth in certain areas due to the time our ...
13
I think its also proper to set expectations, many 2 year olds while they "play" tend to do so in parallel not with a lot of interaction. So you may want to be careful in what you expect, so you don't see something that is not there. Significant change is also something to aware of, as Torben notes, and will definitely influence young children who have ...
13
From all the classes I have taken (I have a Bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies), we learned that the primary factors influencing child outcomes when both parents work is the happiness of the parents with their roles. Looking back through one of my textbooks (Child, Family, School, Community: Socialization and Support 7th ed. by Roberta ...
12
Offer him a "routine" to give him a sense of control and time to transition. A repeatable routine would give him a chance to smoothly "wrap up" what he is doing mentally and help him switch contexts.
Try something along the lines of, "Hi (term of endearment and name) I'm here, you have about 10 minutes to get ready to go. Can you show me what you are ...
12
For a professional, dedicated daycare, it is absolutely inappropriate.
For in-home daycares, though, it may be difficult to avoid.
As Dave mentioned in his answer, the clear recommendation is that there should be no television exposure before the age of two, and after that the amount of television exposure, if any, should be heavily restricted.
...
11
If it's a full-time nanny I'm assuming it's inside your own home.
You have to understand your home also belongs to your child and although in the real world we have to deal with all sorts of people we don't like to be around people we don't like in our own home. This can be a significant cause of stress and a reason that your child is reacting so ...
11
You are asking very difficult question. I grew up with a working mom in a former Soviet Union, and most of my classmates had working moms. I don't think it had any negative impact. On the positive side, I was pretty independent from around 9 years old - I took public transportation and went to activities myself. Luckily she was pretty flexible when it ...
11
You can't .. don't bother trying. I certainly would not delay bringing up concerns in order to spare the feelings of the staff. Who cares if they like you, and if they are nasty to your child you need a new provider anyway.
My advice ...
1/ Be courteous and respectful. In fact be overly so.
2/ Focus on the future, not the past. Don't say "I was ...
10
As a child care provider I found this to be quite common in both the two's classroom and the threes classroom so the information that it "usually ends around two" is not accurate in the reality of my experience.
What I would suggest is two fold:
Your child does need reassurances from you in your words and behavior. Are you having a hard time with the ...
9
I can imagine that he's feeling uneasy at being moved from his grandma and dropped into full-time daycare that abruptly.
Usually, you'd start daycare just a few hours a day and gradually increase to full time.
I understand that with evebody working full-time as well, it's hard or impossible to provide a transition phase.
I think two weeks is not enough ...
8
You should visit the day care. If you show up unannounced, you can see them 'in action'. Below are some general guidelines and a few references.
facilities
does it look safe and clean?
what toys are available?
schedule
what activities are included?
are there opportunities for both individual and group play?
do they have snack time? What do they ...
8
first of all, I want to say that I have tremendous respect for what you are doing. My wife is experiencing the same thing, so I know how it is. The way I see this, is that your little one is passionate and curious. But he does not understand the world he lives in. My daughter also bites, scratches, and hits. When it comes to discipline, there is not much we ...
8
Some of the main proponents of attachment theory, which is a theory of how children develop a relationship with their primary caregiver and how that impacts their relationships throughout the rest of their life, are generally opposed to daycare, as described in this article. If you look into attachment theory and daycare you will find more information from ...
7
The distinction here, as you've noticed, is between setting goals and applying pressure. The difference is whether the focus is on the behaviour of your child or of the centre towards your child.
From the centre's perspective, I suspect they're simply trying to figure out what you, their clients, want from them.
For example, I would like my daughter to be ...
6
Children who are routinely challenged develop more quickly in the areas where they are challenged.
A day care may or may not challenge your child. They vary incredibly in both programming and quality.
If you are concerned about your child's motor skills, get them used! Throw a ball, play hopscotch, play an instrument, study martial arts, dance, whatever ...
6
Ok, so this might be a stupid answer, but I had a similar situation occur with me when I was maybe 3 or 4. My mom arrived to pick me up from daycare, and I didn't want to go. I insisted that I wanted to stay and play more with my friends. So my mom said, "Ok, I'll be back to pick you up a little later, then."
At first, I was all cool with this. Then I ...
5
In the UK there is a regulatory body called OFSTED that makes random inspections. The reports from those inspections are available to the public. They give a rough guide to how good the facility is, but you have to be aware that they are a snapshot from a single day. If a bad centre is having a good day (or a good centre is having a bad day) the report ...
5
As a teacher and a recently back to work mom, I think there are more cons than pros. I know that many feel that there are many pros, but my experience is that by and large, your child will care more about time with you rather than money and things from you. I know when I think about my childhood I think about the time my mother took with each of us every day ...
5
It sounds like you and your wife may have slightly different inclinations about whether a change is needed, so I'll see if I can make a respectable argument for the 'contrarian' side:
If the situation doesn't improve in a reasonable amount of time then it would seem changes are needed. Does the nanny acknowledge the problem? Does she know that the kids ...
5
Moving to a new house and changing the daycare are big changes, a new bed is a small change. Potty training can be either, as is so often the case, it depends...
I see three separate issues here:
Can you separate the daycare switch from the moving? If you can, you definitely should consider making them two distinct events, IMO
Moving means a new room and ...
5
Remo H. Largo, one of the most eminent Swiss developmental psychologists, has the following opinion on the matter:
Children need continuity. It does not matter to them, who provides the continuous psycho-social care. Children grow up happy and healthy with their parents, a single parent, their grandparents, adopted parents, foster parents, or whoever is ...
4
I'd suggest you spend some time and see how they interact. Your 4yo may have a point.
We had a number of nannies for our son over an 18 month period. Some were great and really loved kids and totally got that the job is all about being there 100% for the child and being involved with them. Others, not so much. One would arrive at our house, turn on the TV ...
4
Kids know the difference between adults and others kids. As much as they will try to emulate adults, they are more fascinated and interested in other kids. Be it day care, Sunday school or neighborhood kids, kids will learn from older or more advanced kids, especially when they become at an age when they are actually interactive and want to play with other ...
4
Assumption 1:
I'm writing this with the understanding that the caregivers speak English - with a strong accent - and not their native tongue, as the other 2 answers seem to assume.
My honest opinion is that if my child spends a significant amount of time in the daycare, then I would require that the staff must speak reasonably accent-free. Children learn ...
4
I taught twos, threes and fours for a few years. There isn't a lot you can do about the stuffed toys except put them in the laundry every so often, but here is what I did in my classroom in regard to the plastic stuff.
Keep bleach locked away somewhere. At the end of the day put a capfull in a bucket of water and throw in the toys that were licked or ...
4
We have a 19 month old son so we're in prime picture book buying mode at the moment! We find that for our son to fall in love with a book, it has to meet at least one (and preferably both) of these two criteria:
A lot of action to look at; and
Pictures of things that he's recently learned (whether it's a new word or a new activity).
I'll give two ...
3
My experience is:
My parents-in-law are non-native speakers of our (and our child's) mother language
and I see, that our child (which often spends time with them, on average maybe at least 6..24 hours per week) also adapts
wrong pronunciation and
unusual vocabulary or
idiomatic expressions which are translated from another language word-by-word
to ...
3
Here's a list without any particular order.
meet and talk to the teachers. Are they nice, do they seem well trained, responsible? Do you feel that they provide a culture or style that you approve of? Do they master the language well enough (they might be foreigners but still very good at your language)? Are they trained in first-aid?
visit and look at ...
3
Also, aside from the general considerations mentioned by MicharlF and Torben, it might also be that you have a typical geeky child.
Some people are NEVER comfortable around new persons, at 2, 3, 4 or even 30.
Our oldest didn't start being decently social until ~4 YO (he went to preschool at 3), and even now gets a bit shy around new kids. Which seems ...
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