Being a parent is hard. We are constantly second-guessing ourselves, wondering if we are doing the best thing for our child, hoping we are doing no harm. For working parents its worrying if your child is missing out at childcare. If you are missing out on your child. Stay-at-home parents worry if their child is missing out by not going to childcare. It seems to be a no win situation, but that’s not true. Let’s explore the issue of staying at home vs sending your child to childcare.
(We will only be considering quality childcare in this article as not all care is the same, and quality childcare makes all the difference.)
Quality childcare
Quality childcare centres have lots to offer young children, such as:
- Dedication
The facilities are child safe and child friendly with equipment designed to stimulate the children’s curiosity. They have an energetic, fresh, clean, and enticing atmosphere. The educators in these centres have dedicated their lives to educating young children and they love their jobs.
- Personal skills
They teach the children how to form relationships, to share, take turns, to listen, communicate ideas, socialise, and they build the children’s confidence.
- Lifelong benefits
The children will pick up a love of learning, to have routines, form good habits, improve their health through building a strong immune system, and they learn emotional resilience through diversity, adversity, problem solving, and triumph.
- Parent benefits
Children aren’t the only ones to benefit from childcare, parents do too. It gives them the chance to study, to upgrade their skills, have time to perform chores and run errands, to have a social life that includes adults – not just children, and time to rejuvenate.
Home
Unless you are one of the few who have the knowledge, equipment, and skills to educate your child or have the time to dedicate to your child’s development, then as hard as you try, you probably can’t give your child everything they need to be their best.
And, let’s face it, whether we like it or not, sooner or later they are going to have to start school. It is in their best interest to be educationally, emotionally, physically, and socially prepared, to have experienced diversity and difference, and to have confidence they can achieve.
If your childcare centre isn’t providing these things, then you child is not in quality childcare. To find out what childcare services are available, go to a website like this one for Sunbury or enter your postcode at https://space.myxplor.com/ to find the providers in your suburb.
There is nothing wrong with putting your child into childcare because you have to work. In fact, they’ll likely be missing out if they only stay at home. Dedicated, quality educators and centres prepare the children in their care for school and beyond. They build on the natural curiosity of children to form a lifelong love of learning. By enrolling your child in at least part-time childcare you can give them the best of both worlds.
