[Vicki H]

My son who has been going to my sisters home since he was 9.5 months old, may have to go to daycare.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how a 3 year old could react to daycare? He is very social and pleasant.

Thanks,
Vicki

[waitinginnj]

I had to make the transition for my daughter from my sister's to daycare. It worked out really well.

She transitioned for the first year three days at daycare and two days at my sisters. It was good in the beginning, but she found it confusing once she was settled in daycare. She also had more fun there, as there are activities all day and lots of playtime - no going to the store etc.

Her language and social skills sky rocketed.

I have found now that she has been in the same daycare for almost two years, that I am sending her to a different camp this summer for a break to the routine. At camp, there will be some new kids, they swim each day and the activities will be different. She will go back to the daycare in September.

Other things that turned out important, that I didn't think about at first was:

How many of the kids are teacher's kids (if you are not a teacher)? They tend to be able to leave earlier and if there are too many it can be hard on the children there until 5:00 or so. One center that I considered bragged about how many teachers brought their kids there - wouldn't have worked for me.

I try to make sure that my daughter isn't the first and only kid there (she is one of the early ones) and that she is never the last one. They start to know when you should be there and when you are late. Vary the routine to give yourself a little flexibility.

Good luck - it is hard. It has worked out okay for me. I hope that camp does.

[Vicki H]

Thanks for your response. I am sure he will do fine. I have been checking different daycares.
There is one here at the hospital where I work, which would be ideal, but the price is pretty high.
My neighbors son does go to a daycare and the two boys are friends, so that may help.
I think I might start him 2-3 days a week and see how it goes.

Thanks,
Vicki


I hope camp goes well.

[GCS]

Hi Vicki,
Sam and Sophia go twice a week to daycare. They love it. I shopped the local daycares by basically spying on them throughout the day. I would drive by and see who was playing outside. How the teachers were interacting, etc.
Two of the more expensive, "better" schools did not do well in my stop by and drive by tests. I found the kids were always in free play and the teachers were outside holding up the wall and chatting and not interacting with the kids.

So in the end I felt good sending them somewhere where I knew the teachers were paying attention to the children.

They're usually there about 6-7 hours a day and they both really like going.

Good luck!
Christina

[LoveJosiah]

I also did a lot of spying, after I enrolled my then 16 month old boy in a daycare within a mile of work. I actually saw a teacher charge across the room and smack my baby - on the hands, rather violently! She admitted it when confronted by the director and me and was admonished and had to go to anger management classes and continuing child education, and apologized profusely, but then I really checked up. I was always taking 10 minutes to go crawl thru the bushes. Ha. My son didn't seem afraid of her, but I had him moved to another class. Then once I saw bruises on his throat & called the police from the daycare center. The director & whole staff we on pins & needles. None of us could believe the awful purple & brown fingerprint bruises on his little neck. When the police got there to take photos the "bruises" wiped right off...it was marker. Oops. The teacher was very offended but I told her that no one is above suspicion.
I moved him to a Christian daycare when the 1st daycare started allowing Harry Potter type things. They were glad we left, I'm sure! I had red stars on our family file, when I asked why I was told that was how they alerted other staff to "paranoid mothers".
We love his new Christian daycare. He is so peaceful, no accident reports like before. He is learning so much, and they always have two teachers in the room, which is the ideal situation! They keep eachother in check. It is a very "up" and "happy" environment and my boy really loves to go (3 days a week). But I still check! If you see a mom crawing thru bramble bushes in 120 degree weather, don't worry, it's just Josiah's mom.

[Vicki H]

Wow, that's a horrible experience. I am glad you found a daycare that you are comfortable with.

Vicki

[Shai's Mom]

Both my sons have been in daycare from baby age.

The older one is very sociable and loves being around other kids. The little one, well, it's a bit early yet, but he seems to be going the same direction.

Beware: It's likely that for the first two months or so your son will be sick more often than not, he'll pick up anything that goes around the day-care.

That's what happened to mine. But, since then, the older one rarely if ever gets sick. The little one, it's still too early to say, but again, I see the same tendencies.

Good Luck!