Whether you’re a parent or pediatrician, there are many opinions on what age is best for a child to begin attending daycare. Some believe the earlier, the better, so there’s less separation anxiety. Others believe that sending the child to daycare when he is older allows for proper parental bonding.

There are a dozen other factors to consider, as well, such as the child’s immune system, social tendencies, and the parent’s work schedule. Some parents must go back to work six weeks after delivering a baby, while others can wait a few years and easily resume their occupation. 

While there’s no right or wrong answer, most pediatricians recommend that children attend daycare beginning around one year old. 

The Best Age to Start Daycare

Many pediatricians recommend that children start daycare around age one. There are several reasons for this:

Immunity

Babies younger than one year have a developing immune system. Letting your infant’s immune system mature before enrolling them in daycare would help them stay well.

Parental Attachment

12 months could be the sweet spot for enrolling your child in daycare because it allows parental-child bonding but the child isn’t old enough to experience severe separation anxiety during drop off. 

Better Behavior

One study noted that children enrolled in daycare at 12 months were better behaved than their peers who stayed home. This is because children at this age are budding socially and have ample opportunity to learn important social skills, such as sharing toys, playing with friends, and communicating with baby sign language. Babies who don’t have regular peer interaction miss out on opportunities to grow and integrate these social skills.

The Earliest Age to Start Daycare

Studies show there are benefits to enrolling a child younger than 12 months. Children enrolled at six months have better cognitive and social skills than peers who stay at home.

Days of Discovery enrolls infants as young as six weeks. We ensure quality of care for these precious little ones and give them the care and attention they need to grow and thrive. 

The Worst Age to Enroll in Daycare

Knowing the best age to start daycare begs the question: Is there a bad age to enroll in daycare?

Generally speaking, children aged three and four have the hardest time transitioning to daycare, especially if they’ve exclusively stayed home with a parent and not had other forms of childcare (like a relative or friend watching them part-time, or an early preschool program).  

This age is hardest because children are used to spending all their time with their parents. Such a drastic change in routine can cause a lot of anxiety, hyperactivity, and behavioral issues in children. 

But this doesn’t mean enrolling your three-or-four-year-old will be disastrous! At Days of Discovery, we have compassionate teachers who will help your child quickly acclimate to a daycare setting. We have an excellent early preschool curriculum that lets your child get a head start on kindergarten skills.

Age Doesn’t Matter–As Long As Care is Quality

While there is much debate about the best time to enroll a child in daycare, the bottom line is that daycare can be beneficial for children of every age, as long as the daycare provides quality care. There’s a huge difference between a daycare that lets children play all day and a daycare that provides predictable routines, age-appropriate education, nutritional meals, and creative play time. 

Days of Discovery provides outstanding care to children enrolled in our program, so they will be cared for by kind and compassionate teachers who want to see them reach their highest potential. 

Children in our program receive age-appropriate education that grows their fine and gross motor skills, social skills, and early educational knowledge. 

Many working parents rely on daycare to return to their jobs. Daycare is a blessing for many parents, but daycare is not a replacement for parental care. Children need their parents to care for and raise them, so children shouldn’t be in daycare all day, every day.

But how many days and hours during the day are best for children to be in daycare?

The answer to this question is largely based on the child’s age. Let’s look at some of the factors to consider when finding the ideal schedule for your child.

Infants

Infants under one year are still forming a parental-child bond. For this reason, infants shouldn’t be away from their parents or relatives all day, every day. Only a few hours every day or a few times a week is best.

It might take juggling work schedules with your partner or relative to accommodate this need. Luckily, since the pandemic, many occupations are willing to let parents of young children work from home. Perhaps you can arrange for a few hours in the office and the rest of your workday at home, or align your work schedule with your partner or relatives so they can watch your baby for a few hours during your workday. 

Even though it might be inconvenient to only have your infant in daycare for a few hours, it’s a decision you won’t regret in future years.

Toddlers

Although toddlers (aged one to three years) seem more independent, they need about the same amount of care and attention from their parents as infants do. 

Try to arrange or cut your work schedule to have your child in daycare for 20-25 hours per week. With the help of your partner, friends, and relatives, this is attainable for many families.

Pre-K and Kindergarten

Children four years and older have a greater capacity to be away from their parents. Hopefully, children this age will feel secure in their relationships with their parents. Their social skills and classroom friendships are stronger and usually allow them to not be anxious away from parents.

Additionally, children of this age must acclimate to the length of school days. So while you may need to slowly lengthen the hours your child is in daycare, it is appropriate to have your child in daycare for a full-time schedule.  

Is It Okay for My Child to Spend More Time in Daycare Than the Recommended Amount?

A variety of factors come into play when answering this question. 

• Family’s needs: Some children will be in daycare for longer because it is a necessity for the parents to pay the bills. Parents in this situation need to give themselves grace and rest assured that there are still opportunities to bond with their children.
• Child’s personality: Some children have a higher need for peer interaction with others. If your child is a social butterfly, they may do very well with a full-time daycare schedule, even at a young age. 
• Sibling enrollment: Children who have siblings enrolled in the same daycare may feel more secure and, therefore, be able to tolerate a full-time schedule better than a child without any siblings enrolled.

Full-Time vs. Part-Time at Days of Discovery

The advantage of full-time enrollment is that it is a much more structured routine for your child. They know exactly where they will be and what to expect. With part-time enrollment, your child may be confused about when or how long they will be at daycare and who will be dropping off or picking them up. This may be upsetting for some children.

On the other hand, children enrolled in daycare full-time may miss out on important parental or family bonding opportunities. Children enrolled part-time will have more time with parents, family, and close friends and may experience greater family stability.

We offer full and part-time schedules at Days of Discovery so you can find the best fit for your child’s and your family’s needs. If you opt for a part-time schedule, we can be flexible on drop-off and pick-up times.

Children of every age love to color, paint, draw, cut, and glue. They scribble on the walls and smear mud on the backyard fence,  mix all the paint or Play-Doh colors together to create new colors, and cut endless pieces of paper and paste them together with glue.

Is all this just a mess, or is there a developmental reason for the chaos?

Luckily, research shows that children love to create, and channeling their creativity has many positive benefits. Here are just a few.

Art Benefits Fine Motor Skills

Children begin to develop fine motor skills around twelve months of age. This is most noticeable with picking up food using a pincher grasp. As they grow, children will gradually acquire more fine-tuned motor skills, but there is a lot of practice needed before a child can successfully write their name on their homework assignments. 

Art gives children the motivation to develop fine motor skills. Holding the grip on a crayon while dragging it along the paper is challenging for young hands, but the delight of seeing the color gives the child a reason to keep going. 

Scribbling is a precursor to handwriting, so it’s vital to allow plenty of time for children to experiment by scribbling. Over time, the intrinsic muscles needed for handwriting will mature and strengthen, making handwriting easier in kindergarten. 

Art Benefits Problem-Solving Skills

Art is open-ended. Any form of art provides endless possibilities to express the imagination. During creation, children make choices of color, texture, and proportions, and they learn problem-solving skills to get it to all fit together. They may change their mind along the way and need to adapt, or perhaps they made a mistake and must choose to either hide or include the mistake in their final creation.

These problem-solving skills aid children in social and educational situations. They learn to persevere and concentrate, make the best of mistakes, and learn how to do things correctly the next time.

Art Lets Children Express Themselves

Children experience a range of emotions throughout the day and are learning how to control and channel these feelings. Learning art is one of the best tools a child can constructively express their emotions. 

If a child is feeling angry or anxious, an “art timeout” will allow them time to focus on something else and return to their situation of frustration or anxiety with a calm spirit. 

Art Improves Academic Performance

Believe it or not, art can improve academic performance! Studies are being reviewed that show a correlation between creativity and higher IQ. Learning shapes and space help children master early math skills and learn about ideas such as bigger and smaller, opposites, and spatial awareness. 

Art Builds Builds Language Skills

Art offers a peek into the child’s perception of the world. This allows child-to-adult or child-to-child interactions based upon their art. Communicating about art builds language skills as the child tells about their art or asks questions of a peer’s art. 

Further, children are able to learn to give constructive criticism and receive insight about their art in a gracious way.  

Art Creates Well-Rounded Persons

When we focus on memorizing factual information in the early years, we can create children who are hardened to the beauty around us. Art helps children delight in the small areas of beauty, experience pride in their work, and value another’s art.

How Do I Start?

Hopefully, you are inspired to help your child experience the beauty of art. But how do you get started?

Luckily, art is easy to incorporate into your daily routine–it just takes a little intentionality. Starting with simple crayons and paper or a coloring book, talk about each color and shape. Some basic paints (or pre-colored paint with water pictures) are sure to delight your child and have very little cleanup. Paint sticks are another easy clean-up craft!

Older children can improve their fine motor skills by cutting with blunted children’s scissors or using stickers. Glue sticks can bring a new dimension to their cutout creations.

Art at Days of Discovery

At Days of Discovery, we strive to provide many opportunities for various art forms on a weekly basis. From infants to older ages, we include age-appropriate crafts, activities, and art appreciation so children gain all the benefits of art.

It can be hard to include your child’s art skills during a busy day. Thankfully, you can rest assured that your child receives age-appropriate and fun art skills at Days of Discovery.

As an adult, you may like to be spontaneous or plan out a daily schedule. Children, however, need the consistency of a structured routine to flourish. 

Unfortunately, a schedule can be hard to accomplish as a stay-at-home parent. There are endless options of ways to fill your time: going to the park, shopping, eating out, playdates, television, and so much more.  

It’s easy to see how tantrums result from inconsistency. Why can’t you get ice cream after visiting the zoo since you did it yesterday? Why can’t your child watch three episodes of television like he did on the weekend? Why should he take a nap today since he hasn’t had one for a few days?

This is where the advantage of daycare comes in! At Days of Discovery, we have a consistent daily and weekly schedule. Keep reading to learn how maintaining consistency benefits your child.

Structure Reduces Anxiety

Adults can experience anxiety when they don’t know what will happen. Will your boss give you a promotion? Did you pass your exam? Will you have to work on the weekend?

Similarly, children can experience anxiety when they don’t know what to expect in their day. This anxiety can result in obstinance or tantrums. The best way to help relieve this anxiety is to give children a predictable, consistent routine. When children know what to expect, they feel safe and secure. This helps them flourish and reduce resistance to authority and tantrums. 

Structure Gives a Sense of Control

While it might be counterintuitive, having a schedule helps children feel in control of their environment. They can be fully present doing the tasks before them because they know what is expected and what is coming next. 

Structure Helps Children Feel Safe and Secure

Knowing that adults are in charge gives children a sense of safety and security. When a routine is in place, children instinctively know that they don’t have to protect themselves or look out for their best interests. They are free to simply be children. 

Structure Helps Children Engage in Learning

Children are more likely to be engaged in learning when they have a consistent routine. They know that the teacher sings a good morning song, that snack comes after reading aloud, and that naps happen after lunch. When a structure is immovable, children will be fully present in whatever activity they are doing. They won’t have anxiety about what is coming next or if the teacher will change her mind on a whim.

Give Time for Flexibility

Of course, you can swing too far the other way and hold fast to a rigid routine. This isn’t good for children either! Flexibility is a necessary skill for adults and children alike, whether it’s an emergency meeting, a delayed bedtime, or accepting last-minute tickets to a baseball game. 

How Do I Start?

Hopefully, you can see the benefit of a routine, how it reduces childhood anxiety, and how it can help minimize outbursts. But how can you start giving your child a routine?

First, pick two or three things you know you can be consistent about. For instance, wake up at the same time every day, have consistent times for meals, and don’t budge on when nap time starts. Whatever you choose, pick something you know you can stick with for at least two months, which is the average time to form a new habit. 

Finally, don’t forget to be flexible. Modeling an appropriate response to inconvenience or a change in schedule influences how your child will respond to similar situations in the future.

Structured Routine at Days of Discovery

We understand the importance of a structured routine at Days of Discovery while occasionally giving flexibility for special events. Each classroom has its own daily routine that meets the needs and capabilities of the age group. The children enrolled in Days of Discovery can count on our teachers and staff to consistently teach from our curriculum calendars and provide outings that they can look forward to.

Most parents want their children to be early readers, as this has previously been a major marker for intellectual and educational success. However, new research indicates that math skills are more important than reading in predicting future academic success. Experts are now saying that early math skills need priority in early childhood classrooms, not reading.

Here is what the science reveals about how math helps young children.

Math is a Predictor for Academic and Career Success

According to several studies, “Early math skills foretell higher aptitude in high school math and higher rates of college enrollment… [and for] both males and females, mathematical precocity early in life predicts later creative contributions and leadership in critical occupational roles.”

Math Improves Problem-Solving Skills

Math is all about solving the equation. It stands to reason, then, that math improves your child’s problem-solving skills. The earlier children can solve math problems, the better they will be at math in school, and they will be able to solve everyday problems with ease. 

Math Develops Logic

Dr. Jie-Qi (Jackie) Chen has said “Math is the language of logic.” As your child develops early math skills, the more their brain will mature logically. This is because part of math is figuring out which is the best way to solve the equation. Children who learn math concepts early in life have a head start on analytical and logic skills.

Math Develops Flexible and Creative Thinking

Math promotes flexible thinking because equations can often be solved in more than one way. For instance, you may not know the answer to 9×9 offhand, but you know that 9×10=90. Subtracting 9 from 90 leaves 81. Using creative and flexible thinking at an early age strengthens the brain to perform more challenging mental tasks later.

Math Teaches Perseverance

Math geniuses aside, most of us had meltdowns at some point over not understanding our math homework. While the math concept was important to understand, perhaps the greatest lesson we learned from these meltdowns was perseverance. Math provides ample opportunity for frustration with a great reward upon solving the equation. The earlier children learn perseverance, the more resilient they will be in the real world.

How Do I Start?

Hopefully, you feel inspired to incorporate early math skills into your daily routine. But how do you start? This all depends on the age of your child and their current math knowledge. Of course, teaching numbers is important to understanding math, but math is more than numbers.

Some creative ways to incorporate math skills include:

• Sorting shapes and colors or other toys (e.g. dinosaurs from trains)
• Discuss weight, size, shape, and height differences between objects (e.g. the size, weight, and shape differences of a whale versus a dolphin or a skyscraper versus a house)
• Use Duplos, LEGOs, or blocks with geometric shapes to build visual literacy
• Practice patterns through pattern games
• Strategically choose board or card games that include math, like Chutes and Ladders

Math Skills at Days of Discovery

Days of Discovery teaches many early childhood math skills, as well as providing math-centered games, puzzles, and toys that develop your child’s brain so they receive all the benefits of early math skills. 

It can be hard to include your child’s math skills during a busy day. Thankfully, you can rest assured that your child receives age-appropriate and fun math skills at Days of Discovery. 

All children are born wanting to understand the world around them. Babies learn to push and pull objects, toddlers love to roll and bounce balls, and young children find buoyancy fascinating. 

Concepts like gravity are new and experimental to children. They may think they can fly if they jump off the playground, so the sooner they learn science terms and concepts, the better.

But teaching science isn’t just for their safety or pleasure. There is scientific proof that teaching science at young ages is beneficial for childhood development. Here are just a few.

Language Skills and Vocabulary

Vocabulary shouldn’t be limited to those in stories and nursery rhymes. Vocabulary should include all elements of education, such as mathematics and science. These words may seem incomprehensible to young children, but just like other vocabulary words, exposure is key. The more scientific vocabulary a child knows, the better he will do in school and beyond.

Abstract Thinking

Almost as soon as children can talk, they are asking about how the world works. Why is the sky blue or the grass green? Why does a ball drop but a balloon floats? Children can understand the abstract concepts of science better than we give them credit. The more we can teach our children about science, the easier these will seem in school. 

Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills

Children can develop analytical and problem-solving skills through simple experiments. These help children experience scientific theories like gravity or cause-and-effect relationships. Children can then apply these scientific concepts to their everyday lives and playtime. 

Curiosity

Children are born curious and want to explore. Science is the perfect avenue to learn more about the world around them. Fostering a child’s curious spirit through science will benefit them for the rest of their lives. 

How Do I Start?

Hopefully, you are inspired to incorporate science into your daily routine. Some easy ways to include science are:

• Talk about nature as much as you can: the seasons, space, weather, animals, bugs, germs, dinosaurs, or whatever your child is interested in.
• Check out books from the library that are scientifically oriented. 
• Take a trip to the zoo and discuss the different species of animals
• Allow lots of unstructured playtime outdoors 
• Visit a pond or creek and observe the different plants, bugs, animals, and reptiles

Science Concepts at Days of Discovery

At Days of Discovery, we include many science experiments and activities in our curriculum. We also offer plenty of books, puzzles, and pictures of animals, bugs, and reptiles. 

It can be hard to include your child’s science skills during a busy day. Thankfully, you can rest assured that your child receives age-appropriate and fun science activities at Days of Discovery.