Daycare for children under 2 (babies, parents, girls, play)

[gallowsCalibrator]

I'm curious and want to take a poll of the parents here. When your child was under 2 years of age, did you utilize a daycare?

[OneDayInSomewhere]

Yes, I did and she is perfectly normal.

[gallowsCalibrator]

Did you put your daughter in out of necessity to work or because it was convenient?

Currently, my hubby and I don't use a daycare because our schedules never intertwine. However, my daughter's sperm donor wants her in a daycare because it would be more convenient for him to pick her up from there on Friday's and take her to on Monday's than to come over to our beautiful home. ((He still lives with his mommy....))

Except for putting a baby into a daycare while you work... I don't see the point of a daycare for someone her age. ((17 months))

[movingtohouston]

Yes I did. I had my youngest when I was still working. We had several nannies who didn't work out and I didn't want to go through all the drama again. We put him in a daycare at the local college which was part of the Boys and Girls club. It only accepted children up to age five and separated the babies from the older children. There were only 5 or 6 babies there at a time and it was wonderful. He got tons of love and attention. When I finally quit my job they were so sad to see him go. He adjusted quite well to going to daycare and made the adjustment well from leaving it. I don't regret putting him there as it was what I needed to do at the time. Now I get to be with him all the time and we are both happy.

[Drouzin]

Due to my own experiences in daycare as a child, I refused to place my son in daycare until he was able to coherently tell me about his day.

[Marlow]

I was working and my husband was going to school. My daughter went to an in-home daycare starting at 10 weeks and it was a good experience for all of us. The woman had been caring for children in her home for 40 years. She usually had 2 or 3 kids and never more than 5. Her home was spotless and she cooked breakfast and lunch for the older kids. When she opened the door in the morning her house smelled like coffee and homemade tortillas. My daughter loved her like a grandma and we're still in touch. I have never regretted the decision.

[OneDayInSomewhere]

It was out of necessity...I was in college. She was there from around 8 to 2 or 3 I think...it's been awhile since she was in it...she's 9 now. I tried the home care and after about 3 times of not being able to go to school or being late because something came up and she couldn't watch her, I put her in a daycare. If I didn't have to, I wouldn't have put her in there. I don't feel guilty for doing it because that was something that had to be done, but if it weren't for schook, I would've kept her with me.

I don't believe in it for convenience. There is a mom at my daughters school who doesn't work but she puts her child in fulltime daycare. Like you, I just don't see the point in it if it's not a necessity. Especially since it is sooooo expensive!

[movingtohouston]

Originally Posted by Kuharai

Did you put your daughter in out of necessity to work or because it was convenient?

Currently, my hubby and I don't use a daycare because our schedules never intertwine. However, my daughter's sperm donor wants her in a daycare because it would be more convenient for him to pick her up from there on Friday's and take her to on Monday's than to come over to our beautiful home. ((He still lives with his mommy....))

Except for putting a baby into a daycare while you work... I don't see the point of a daycare for someone her age. ((17 months))

After reading another post of yours regarding this situation I have another thought. Since he doesn't want to come to your home and you don't want to venture to his, how about meeting at a neutral ground say a park or at the mall. If you don't require the daycare meet somewhere where you can drop her to him and vice versa. That way it is neutral territory and you avoid confrontations with him and his family and apparantly he with yours. If he is truly insistent with the daycare tell him he has to pay for it. And honestly it really isn't going to hurt your daughter in the long run. She will have two days where she gets to go and play with other children her age. Some daycares will allow you to drop the children off at any time. So if you know that he is picking her up on Friday, drop her off shortly before he is scheduled to be there and the same with picking her up. Pick her up as soon as possible. It seems to me that this is an awfully expensive route to take just to avoid contact with one another. You two are going to be connected for the rest of your lives through your daughter. There has got to be a better way. I hope you can find a simpler solution.

[notjustamom]

No, we never used daycare for any of our three children.

I'm sorry about your situation, it sounds very awkward.

[cmj_fla]

We avoid daycare as well. I work around my husbands schedule and have only put my children in daycare for a year but dreaded every moment of it. They were always sick and my son got a staph infection and that was the breaking point.