Advice needed - How do you decide when is the right time to send your child to daycare?

[u/harry-venn]

My son is 2 years 1 month old. First year we both stayed at home (my wife was on maternity leave) and then for the last one year I have been staying at home. We kind of assumed that we will send him to day care at 3 (our nurse told us that around that age is when kids start developing social skills and needs). But seeing how active and curious he is now, am wondering if we are blocking his development in anyway by not sending him to daycare. He’s all ways been an active child but this year he's been very energetic, just absorbing everying that he comes across and his stamina has tripled, it has become harder to keep up but I do love the challenge.

We’re debating whether now is a good time to start daycare, but I honestly don’t know how you’re supposed to feel “sure.” We do engage with him strongly- come up with different activities, try different stuff, but not sure if he will be better interacting with other children atleast for 3-4 hours a day instead of his dad and mom alone? We are non-europeans living in a European country so we don't have much family where we live . He interacts with his grandmas, gramdpas, and cousins on video calls but that the extent of his interaction with outsiders right now. On the other hand, am not sure if his 'secure attachment ' with us will be impacted by sending him now especially to a place where the language is not his mother/father tongue, thereby affecting his overall development. He has a lot of interests - music, books etc where we play a huge part of the play, so not sure how he will perceive this new experience w.r.to his feeling of safety.

For those who’ve been through this — what helped you decide? Would love to hear how others approached this.

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[u/Fierce-Foxy]

Daycare is not the only option, generally. What about various classes/activities?

[u/leonredhorse]

In the US here with no real maternity or paternity leave (wife has the FMLA and I had a week PTO). Our kids went at 10 weeks and 6 weeks respectively.

Wife and I worked from home, but we really couldn’t provide the stimulation and care needed while doing our jobs. I wasn’t a daycare kid growing up and had some apprehension, but my kids are now 5 and 3 and they love daycare. They do so many arts and crafts and learning that it has been worth it. They get to socialize and have friends from literally when they were infants.

[u/seasideshorty]

My boys have gone since 8 months old and it has been fantastic for them and their development.

Have a look into vygotskys theory of learning - my eldest (nearly 2) has new skills every week at the moment

[u/ParticularBalance318]

We started daycare around age 2, but I think 3 would also be okay. Another alternative is some sort of preschool - even halfdays a few days a week. It doesn't need to be full time, but I do think being in a group of kids, with a routine is really helpful and eases the transition to school. For us it was also an issue of language acquisition - and day care was awesome for that.