Day Care or Home with a Parent? What are your thoughts?

I think it's an individual choice. Another factor is that when the parent stays at home, it can be difficult to go from being your own person to being someone who is basically at the beck and call of another being. It's hard to miss out on adult conversation and going to work. When we have kids, one of us will stay at home with them, but they'll go to a playgroup or something so that person will at least see other parents.

I am a registered home daycare provider and a stay at home mom. I have seen both sides of this coin. I think my children benefited from attending daycare when I worked because they learned what it means to have an adult in charge who is not your parent. They also learned that not all toys belonged to them! I felt like my job was taking too much time away from my family so I chose to stay home and care for others' children. This was much more profitable for me and I was able to keep up with my housework at the same time. I truly believe it is good to have your child in daycare part of the time. They need to know that there is another adult in the world that they can trust and who loves them besides mom and dad. Some people find they are better parents if they have the chance to go to work and interact with other adults. However some people take this way too far. I have seen cases where the children are at daycare 10 hours a day and with a teenage sitter in their own homes at night. The children tend to feel insecure after a while because they are just shuffled from place to place. The benefit of going to a registered center as opposed to a registered home is that if one provider is sick there is another staff member to provide care. The downfall is that the children get far less individual attention and are often only exposed to children in their own age group. My home is like a second home to many children. When I go to the grocery store or library there is rarely a time when I don't have a child race over and jump in my arms. My daycare parents prefer a home daycare because it is more of a home like environment. The standards and regulations are the same but they have friends of many different ages and the provider never changes. Whether you choose a center or a registered home make sure the provider loves kids and truly enjoys being a part of their lives.

When I had my son, I had to go back to work after maternity leave for financial reasons. I was unhappy about putting him into daycare, but I didn't have any other feasible options, so he went to daycare from when he was about 10 weeks old. I cried my eyes out and barely put him down for the last few days of my maternity leave because I was so upset about leaving him. Still, hiring a private individual was never something I considered because of the horror stories I heard from friends about being left in the lurch when the caregiver was sick or otherwise unavailable. In retrospect I'm really glad that he went to daycare. I was a baby who stayed home with my mother until I went to kindergarten and I was painfully shy and withdrawn. My child never meets a stranger and is very comfortable with other kids. While it's true that he was also exposed to more colds and germs than he would have otherwise, I think it probably helped his immune system.

i think that its wonderful to be able financially to stay at home with children during those first few years, however most of the time it's impossible.. though finding a good trustworthy daycare is quite a task.. it can prove to be extremely good for children as long as it's a structured learning environment.. there's no problem whatsoever with children being cared for by trusted daycare providers.. it almost as important for children with stay at home parents to be involved with some sort of preschool, daycare, or playgroup so that the children may develop better social interaction skills and development amongst their peers...i find this to be especially true for single children or children whom only have much older siblings.. bottom line.its important for kids to be around other kids just as its important for adults to be around other adults..as far as wether a formal daycare is better than a private individual.. i think both are typically equal unless your comparing a daycare provider that cares for only your child and no others.. then its no different than being at home with only you.. i dont care much for large daycare centers.. im happier with small ones that typically have 10-15 kids or so.. with a few different adults.. they just seem more structured.. that to me is no different than choosing to utilize another stay at home parent that has a couple kids and watches a couple others. as long as theres other kids to interact with, routines and a good learning environment.. i believe it can be very beneficial to the child.

I have mixed thoughts about daycare. I think daycare is good because children have the chance to interact with other children and they are a place where parents can bring their child when they need to work or whatever. But these days its getting harder and harder to trust anyone with your kids. All the time you hear things on the news like daycare forgets child in car or child gets abused at daycare. So I dont know if I would use them or not.

i am a single parent an i will not leave my children at a daycare. i dont trust people with my children. an a daycare has a bad rep.i will find someone that i trust an alot of times they watch them in my home. i would rather stay home at watch them myself cause i really dont trust anyone to my girls. people are mean out in this world an take it out on our children for no reason. so no thank you to daycare.

It would be great if the parents work schedules that allows one of them to be home. But if that is not possible I think the second choice would be a relative. My Grandmother cared for my son while I worked. I was always thankful to her.

I have been a single mom with my kids in daycare. Now I am a stay at home mom. I see such a difference in my children now that I stay at home. I believe I have become a much better mother because of this, but at the same time I feel like I should be setting a good example as far as having a good work ethic. Damned if I do~damned if I don't. I still think being here for them is best.

In my country we have maids and nannies (we call them yaya) and they are very affordable so hardly anyone resorts to daycare. Or else there is alway someone in the house to look after children when the mother goes to work, like the grandma or the grandpa, a sister or a cousin, or a mother-in-law. That's the advantage of having extended families in our culture.

First of all I don't know why it's called "stay at home" mom. With 5 boys I was always on the run. I am still very glad that I could be one though. Staying at home is not an option for everyone. If I would have had to put my boys in daycare I would have been frantic about at least spending quality time with them when I was at home. When I have grandchildren, I am giving my kids the option of having gramma babysit. I hope they take me up on it.

For us, it was really important that one of us stayed home with the kids. We have nothing against daycare, we just felt that it was better to have a parent there permanently. It really helps with consistency in discipline etc. I feel bad for single parent who really don't have that option and are forced to pay exorbitant amounts for daycare.

parent at home all time with child is the best option if it can be managed.....otherwise daycare is a better and safer option as there will be other kids and it wud be a certified instiution....i woudn't suggest a private individual unless u know them personally if u do then its perfect....

If and when I have children I will be sending them to daycare. Some kids get too attached to their parents if they stay home with them.

of course home with a parent. a child is shaped by who takes care of him. and who can better take care of him but parent? parents can give unconditional love which, is just what a growing kid needs.

I am now a stay at home mom. I worked for about 4 months after my son was born and he went to a babysitters home. We looked into daycares around here, but I just couldn't bring myself to take my son there. this is just for me. I do not want to put my son is daycare. For some parents, daycare may be the right choice, but for me, it is not. Even now, I take him out to his babysitter 2 days a week. This gives him time to be socialized and gives me a chance to rest. His babysitter lives 20 miles one way away from us, and I chose to do that drive everyday whn I was working, but the alternative to me is not good.

I feel the child at home with the parent is good. In a day care they won't take much care as the own mother does. The parent is thinking this is my own chil and I should take care. But in day care or private individual it is not their own child. So they won't feel so much how the child's mother feels. For working parents there is no alternative. They have to keep the child in a day care or private individual

if it were to be a career conscious parents, i will say its ok to have your babies in the day care during the day but no matter how career conscious the person must be, he must or she must be there for the baby during the other times in the day. daycare during the day and taking care of your babies during the other parts of the day is my stand. but a better and good day care not anyhow daycare.

I think that it mostly appropriate that the child stays with their parents as much as possible but if they really have no choice then that is the time that the daycare comes into the scenario.

Children brought up by parents are better off than the rest. From looking after their health to imbibing good values in them. Only the parents can take care of that.

I think different children have different needs. My elder daughter was very confident and would have been fine in daycare, but in the end I decided to leave her with her grandparents when I worked. My younger daughter is much more shy and I have stayed home with her and try to introduce her to new situations slowly to build her confidence. Its a very tough decision.