BellaOnline Forums Family Siblings Daycare, should kids be in it?

As you may already know from my bio on the siblings page I ran a dayhome for 3 years. I owned it for 5 years and had a nanny watch the kids for the first 2 years.

I had kids in my care for as little as 2 days (16 hours) a week to 5 days a week (50 hours).

I believe that daycare can be used by families to help socialize their kids and allow mothers to continue their careers.

But how many hours is too many? Do we spend too much time away from our kids for the sake of a career?

Can mothers work a full time job and be good mothers at the same time?

Some kids thrive in daycare, some don't. Some families work better with working parents and others work better with one staying home. Which is best for your child(ren)?

Are your children in Daycare? single choice
	Yes
	No
Votes accepted starting: 10/22/05 09:48 PM You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.

How many days a week are your kids in Daycare? single choice
	0 days a week
	Less than 1 day a week
	1 day a week
	2 days a week
	3 days a week
	4 days a week
	5 days a week
Votes accepted starting: 10/22/05 09:48 PM You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.

I HAD been a completely stay at home mom w/ my kids (14, 8, 2). But as my depression worsened, and as my 2 yr old got ever more curious and adventurous (he has been nicknamed houdini - because he has figured out how to undo all the locks- including deadbolts, and all the safety locks in our house). We decided that he probably needed to be in daycare both for my state of mind (I was becoming horribly paranoid about him, and couldn't sleep for fear of him getting out of the house), and because he needed more "structure" to his day.

Since he's started, he loves it! He's disappointed on Sat. because he doesn't go (Sunday is church-so he sees kids then). And he is So ready for bed at night-time now. (It used to be a huge struggle, with us putting him back to bed 10 - 12 times).

I don't know if we'll continue w/ 5 days a week for longterm, but for right now, it is definitley a good decision.

I am a stay at home mom of 2, my son is a 4 yr old and my daughter is 17 months. My mother did daycare in our home for 20 yrs with the three of us and the 6 state allowed. So I support daycare for parents if you find someone like my mom, a good/ safe caregiver. I wanted to stay home with my kids, so we have watched our pennies and I sell stuff on Ebay to help out. I get people that act like I am crazy because I have a four yr degree and stay home. But I will have it when my kids go to school, if my husband makes me go to work then. I am working on that. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I went back to work after my son was born, he was 6 months old. It wasn't all that hard for me at the time. We had a good day home for 6 months and then moved to the other end of the city and found a new dayhome.

Things there did not go so well.... my husband was 1/2 hour late picking him up and found him outside with a 10 year old neighbour kid waiting for him. The dayhome caretaker had gone to dinner with her family. We promptly started looking for a nanny and setting up our own dayhome in our house.

This was a wonderful arrangement because we didn't have to get Carter up in the morning, he's a late sleeper. We also had a small income from it to cover costs of toys, extra playpens, highchairs etc. We also had business deductions on our income taxes.

When Kennedy came along Unemployment insurance lasted a year and by then I was comfortable with staying home and very attached to both my children. I was lucky to be able to take over the dayhome. It was a very interesting experience.

I'm going back to work full time. My husband runs his own auto repair business in our garage so he's home to watch our 3 year old daughter.

I want to put her in daycare, at least 2 times a week so she won't always be in the house by herself.

My husband doesn't agree, he thinks he'll be able to work in the garage and take care of her at the same time. How do I get through to him that this isn't fair to her?

If the concern is whether a few hours of daycare is affordable, perhaps show him on paper that your family can afford it.

Not that it's affordable, once I get work we will both be making a lot of money. He doesn't want her in daycare and he wants to take care of her. Problem is she'll sit in front of the TV the whole time in the house alone while he's in the garage. During his slow time, December & January he'll be with her but when he gets busy again he won't have time for both. He thinks he will though.

That has to be hard. I put my twins in daycare two days a week for 4hrs at a time, just so I can get things done around the house, and have time for me...like shopping, lunch with friends, cleaning...and for them to gain social skills with other kids. I am stay at home mom too, but I will most likely get a part time job once the babies are born and able to go to daycare.

Is there a pre-kindergarden or a preschool your daughter can enroll in...maybe a half day one? Maybe if you convince him it is educational he might budge

Plus, like I said, it wasn't just my depression that led us to putting Seth (2 1/2) in daycare. It was the fact that he is sooooo social, he couldn't stand to be in the house with just mommy all day. He wanted to get out!

now that he's in daycare with other kids and socializing, its great. He gets to play with other kids, learns social skills (that TV, no matter how much they SHOW it, cannot teach it)and just has fun.

I ran a daycare with 11 kids in and outta here all week. She is happier now with more alone time and one friend to play with here and there.

My husband would never get her to pre school. He's freaking because our son was moved up in Karate and now goes twice a week. He doesn't want to have to drop what he's doing to take him.