How much time does your 2-3 year old spend at daycare?

[Anonymous]

I am the PP that asked about telework. I didn't mean to imply that your children would be home with you - that's difficult. I telework a lot but send my LO to daycare. But she is there a much shorter time on those days because there's no commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I care for children now, 5 and 7, who spent at least 10 hours a day in a daycare from 6 months until 5 years old. I can say with certainty that they were negatively effected by this. They have a very hard time listening, do not eat regular food, throw monumental tantrums, and their parents do not follow through. Yes, I am leaving very soon.

Sorry for the negative experience you've had with these children, but not all children are affected the same way. It sounds like there is a different source for the problems with the children you care for that are not necessarily attributable to day care. My children attended day care since they were 4 months old for about 9-10 hours a day (drop off between 7-8 and pick up by 5:30) and they are well adjusted children in elementary school. They do very well at school, eat regular meals (not junk food) and don't throw tantrums. While we would have prefered to not have to send our children to day care for so many hours, shorter hours or foregoing day care altogether was not possible for us. We've done the best we could -- including telework when possible so that they would spend less hours at day care on those days, and we spend a lot of time with our kids during evenings and weekends (which has meant less grown up time and virtually no use of babsysitters). To the original poster, once you figure out what will be the arrangement for your family things will work out.

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on the kid. Our son was in daycare for about 7/8 hours a day until DH changed jobs that did not allow us to stagger. He was then in daycare about 9/10 hours a day and we noticed an increase in tantrums and tiredness, and more reports of aggression at daycare. Ultimately we got a nanny (since we were expecting #2) and he is much much happier and calmer. Although his hours with the nanny are just as lon, he is at home, without all the stimulation of the other kids, and does very well.

Don't mean to say that your kid won't be okay with a long day--but it really does depend on the kid and the daycare, I think.

[Anonymous]

We've sent both our kids to different preschools and they always have a 4:30-5:00 snack time, so the food issue hasn't been a problem and toward the end of the day it is usually pretty calm which is better for my DC to wind down. It is worse to have them there for a long time when they're little than when they are around 4. At 4, my DC even went to a class in the evening once a week and seemed to be able to handle it fine. With two different drop offs (one now in public school and a toddler, I haven't figured out a way to have either of them there less than 9 hours even with a little staggering. 9-9 1/2 hours is about the average my children are at school/daycare and it hasn't really been a problem although I do feel like I don't have enough time to devote to both children properly but it is what it is. I saw one place open from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm. That must really be hard for a little one.

[Anonymous]

We used to live in Fairfax and I work in DC, so for the first 2.5 years of her life, my daughter was in "school" for 10 hours a day. That idea stressed me out a little, but a lot of it was naps at first, and she seemed ok with it.

We moved to Arlington over the summer and now she's in preschool for 9 hours a day, which makes me a little happier. She doesn't seem to mind. On my telework days I try to drop her off a little later and pick her up a little earlier. Occasionally she seems tired/overstimulated at night, but 4 days out of 5 she's fine. Do what you have to do, OP.

[Anonymous]

We do 9-5 four days/week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I care for children now, 5 and 7, who spent at least 10 hours a day in a daycare from 6 months until 5 years old. I can say with certainty that they were negatively effected by this. They have a very hard time listening, do not eat regular food, throw monumental tantrums, and their parents do not follow through. Yes, I am leaving very soon.

SAHM here- my dc were never in daycare and do these things sometimes too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it's different in day care because it makes for a long day away from home. (Not just "away from parents.") Yes, the day is very exciting in the beginning with lots of activities, but what I've found is after nap/snack around 4/4:30, my kid is ready to go.

Staff is usually tired by the end of the day too, so I've found that it's not a great time to be there. They just let the kids run around and not many activities are being done then.

Also want to consider dinner. DS eats dinner ideally around 5:30/6pm. So, if he's not picked up by then, that's a long time to "last" from snack to getting home for dinner.

This exactly. DD is in daycare from 8:15-a little before 5. Its a long day, and at the end of the day they just let them run around and do free play outside. The providers don't really do much to engage the kids at that point (and that's nothing against them, I've randomly dropped in and they are really engaging and great the rest of hte day). DD doesn't seem upset when I pick her up, but I think that if I were to try to work later, it would really impact her dinner/night time schedule. They give out snacks at 5:15, but if DD gets a snack that late, the snack turns into her dinner.

[Anonymous]

spending time in their own home, even if it's w/ a nanny is very different from time in a group setting. Staggering a lot is tough for DH and me too which was one of the factors that made us prefer a nannyshare since that worked out to a 10 hr day. Now we have #2 and #1 goes to preschool most days a week. Her schedule varies but on 2 days she is there for a bit over 9 hours. They are LONG days and i can tell the difference when she comes home compared to the other days.

I agree too though that part may depend on the child. if your child is a strong extrovert and really just thrives on other kids, they may be fine w/ those long days. If your child is more introverted, all that time around other people will really exhaust them. If I were you, OP, I would try to find a nannyshare rather than switch full time to 10 hr days (since you are asking for acdvice).

[Anonymous]

9 hours/ day and she seems perfectly fine with it. Sometimes a little tired on Mondays and Fridays.