What age is ideal to start daycare?
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Anonymous
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We have been lucky to have a wonderfully caring nanny for both of our young children. My oldest is now in PK3, and due to Covid we really never considered transitioning to day a with him. But I think there are a lot of benefits to daycare as they get older.
What do you think is the ideal age to send a child to daycare? |
Anonymous
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I think that PreK 3 plus aftercare is a really long day, and that DCPS and DCPCS aftercares tend to be awful. So, from a perspective of what's ideal, I'd say a nanny until youngest was in K.
If you could put your 3 year old in a quality full day program without a transition to aftercare and a more developmentally appropriate schedule, I'd say when your younger is 2. |
Anonymous
| What is the benefit for daycare over preschool? I think starting a child in preschool at 2 or 3 is ideal. (My kids are in daycare out of financial necessity but if we could afford it I would stay at home until my youngest was 4 or 5.) |
Anonymous
| Nanny at home until one year of PreK for Kinder prep. |
Anonymous
| 3 is a great age for some sort of socialized setting, be it daycare or preschool or whatever. My older kid started at 2 and my younger one started at just 6 months so mine were younger than your, OP. I think kids who are in some sort of structured social, learning setting have an easier transition to kindergarten when the time comes. |
Anonymous
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I’m a SAHM and my three year old does co-op preschool three mornings a week. If I had a nanny and could afford it, I would have the nanny drop off and pick up for that. Best of both worlds.
Obviously full day daycare from infancy also produces healthy, happy kids so there’s probably no wrong answer here. That’s just what I would do if you love the nanny and don’t need to transition to full daycare, but want the group experience. |
Anonymous
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The best childcare situation imho is:
Yearlong maternity leave, full time nanny from ages 1-2, preschool in the mornings plus nanny in the afternoons ages 2-3, prek at 4, full time school at 5. |
Anonymous
I am yet to meet a single person in the US who was able to take a year long maternity leave, even unpaid. That would have been amazing |
Anonymous
| There has been research about this if you Google. I believe a very high number of hours in a group care setting has been shown to have negative behavior impacts regardless of the age but around 2ish a low-moderate number of hours had neutral and positive effects starting at age 3. Before 2 I believe any number of hours had a negative impact. None of the impacts seemed long term but more short term. This is all my recollection though you should be able to find the studies. |
Anonymous
It’s very common in teaching. I took 2 yrs with each of mine. Unpaid of course but they held my job. |
Anonymous
Mine started daycare at 5-6 months, but I agree with this. Parents/nanny until 3, part time preschool at 3, full time kindergarten prep at 4. Though I think ultimately it doesn’t really matter as long as they’re in high quality care for a reasonable number of hours and/or get proper socialization before school. |
Anonymous
| preschool and daycare are the exact same thing. People just feel better calling it school. |
Anonymous
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I was a SAHM.
A half day preschool a few days a week was great at 3. Maybe add library story time and a gymnastics/active-type one hour class. A slightly longer 4-day a week for Pre-K was also great. Throw in a few day camps/classes and playdates so they are comfortable in new situations and different groups of kids. All were ready for the large classes and the long day of K. |
Anonymous
Same and agree, although my kids did better with the consistent rhythm of 5 mornings at age 3. |
Anonymous
| Any age |