Childcare can be one of the most stressful parts of becoming a parent — it definitely was for me! There are many options available to parents. I wrote about my experience using a home care provider for Aiden. Today, Julie from Fab Working Mom Life is sharing her experience of switching her toddler to daycare from a live in nanny and why daycare was a positive experience for her and her family.
Why I’m Happy We Switched Our Toddler to Daycare
By Julie
Before I had my baby, we decided to hire a live-in nanny to help care for him while we were at work. A secondary reason for having a live-in nanny was there would be another adult in the house while my husband was away on military duty. This arrangement worked out great for some time, but when my son was almost two, our nanny suddenly quit on us. I was solo-parenting at the time, so her departure added quite a bit of extra stress into my life. Having to get both of us ready and out the door plus adding the time it took for drop off and pick up did impact my schedule. But as it turns out, this was a great move for the toddler.
Reasons switching my Toddler to Daycare was a great move
Toddler’s learning soared in daycare
My toddler was doing well at home, running and climbing and mastering all his motor skills. But he was not speaking and only had maybe a handful of words. As much as I asked the nanny to do various learning activities with him and try to get him speaking, he just wasn’t progressing.
My son has been in daycare for about half a year now, and he has picked up many new words. Sometimes he just counts to 10 on his own for fun. He sings the Alphabet song with me and repeats “I love you” and “good night” and other phrases.
Toddler is interacting with other kids in daycare
Babies are not very social, and small toddlers typically play around each other rather than with other kids. Now that he is two years old, my toddler has begun playing with others. Staying home by himself with a nanny just would not have given him exposure to others.
Kids learn best from watching interactions between people. They get the social cues from each other and from adults, and they learn from experience what behavior gets specific reactions.
In a daycare setting with several teachers and multiple children, my son is able to learn patterns and make connections. This isn’t something he could do one-on-one with an adult and no other children during the day.
Toddler is getting prepared for school
Since the daycare environment is structured, my toddler is learning how to keep up with a schedule and rules. He is being prepared for his future school days by conforming to the routines and teacher-led activities.
Every Friday the daycare sends him home with various preschool lessons and activities the kids did that week. Usually, it is coloring the letter or number of the week and a simple craft. Sometimes we continue coloring and playing with his school work during the weekend, which helps him connect school and learning to homework (while keeping it a play situation).
Even though switching my toddler to daycare has added an extra level of complication to my already busy routine, it has been a tremendous improvement for my toddler’s development. Life tends to throw changes at us that complicate our world, and sometimes those changes are exactly what we needed.
If you liked this post check out Choosing a Daycare as a First Time Mom and Questions to Ask a Child Care Provider & Tips to Nail the Interview.
I’m Julie, a new mom and military spouse who works full time and blogs, all while wishing I had more time to read fun books. I write about being a working mom in order to help myself and other working moms in our journeys to find a balance between family, responsibilities, and hobbies so we can thrive both at home and at work.
I can be found blogging at Fab Working Mom Life and Chapter Break, and hanging out on social media: Twitter ~ Pinterest ~ Facebook ~ Instagram
