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I agree with you that the main benefit of daycare is the socialization aspect. While I plan to go back to work full-time, our future baby(ies) will be raised by grandparents and we won't be enrolling them in daycare. I will look to the same groups as you and most likely our church groups/kids activities for the socialization aspect.

I think it's the faster learning through socialization aspect. I think that when kids learn together, there are subtle, yet key differences and benefits in learning versus learning at home by themselves with a parent.

Just my 'not yet parental' two cents.

Its all about interacting with other kids.It really changes the children to learn to deal with authority other than mom n dad and learn to share attention with several other kids. It helps them understand the world doesnt revolve around them and when they get older it improves their speech, ability to listen and focus and helps them follow routines. I teach a class with my church kids on saturdays and sundays of 2 year olds and 3 year olds and all the parents comment about how different their kids are after a month of starting the class

Over Christmas I was talking to a friend of my husband’s about daycare. She has a 4 year old son, and was a SAHM (now transitioning back to work) and she said she wishes she had put her son in daycare, at least part time from the start.

Her main reason is “socialization” but the ways she explained it, that’s more than just getting out and playing in play dates or once a week structured group activities. Her big topics were:

Learning to share. She said its more about really learning to share with others, outside of mom. Of course you can teach your child to share, but if no one but you is there to actually have to share with, it’s going to be a different experience than having to share resources everyday with a variety of different kids/personalities.

Learning to be independent of mom. Not as important for infants, but its important for toddlers to start to learn to navigate personalities and personality types. Learn to make friends outside of mom. Learn to interact with other people to express your needs/wants, and not just to someone who is there one on one for you 24/7. She said she thinks daycare fosters more self reliance as well.

Clearly, its not really that applicable for an infant/baby, but more for a toddler.

Its sort of like – sure, you can teach these things, but they are so much easier to actually learn in the real world. Her analogy was: you can take online classes and learn and pass and get the same grade as someone doing traditional classes, but your total overall experience and what you gain isn’t the same as actually being a fulltime student in a classroom. There are differences that you can’t replicate when the majority of your time is spent 1:1.

The day I decided to put RJ in daycare was the day he threw his first tantrum. I realized that I could take care of a baby and help him develop, but I didn't have the patience or capacity to teach a child how to identify his emotions, be patient, and share. I know plenty of moms who are able to do this just fine until their kids start preschool or kindergarten. They just stay super involved, go to things like gymboree and playdates and swim class. It's a lot of work, and I chose to pay a center to do it instead of myself.

It's all completely a personal choice and you should do what's best for yourself and your family. Whenever people tell me what I "should" be doing as a mom, I politely smile and nod and completely disregard what they say. The only person who can make those kinds of suggestions to me is Rob Sr.

The difference between socialization at day care and socialization and gymboree or story time is that at day care YOU aren't there. Your child learns to be more independent of you. At 5 months... this is obviously not an issue... but later on it might be something to consider. My mom was a full time stay at home mom but for both me and my brother for the year before we started preschool she put us in day care 2 days a week. It helped us to learn to interact with other children and other adults, without mom or dad being there for guidance. That way once we started preschool 5 days a week it wasn't a total culture shock.

Not to mention it gave my mom a break to clean the house and run errands and do all the things that are easier to do when you don't have a child following you around.

Charlie started daycare at 21 months old and was with a nanny up until that point. I think it was the perfect age for him to start! He learns soooo much there and comes home saying something new and funny practically every day.

The benefits for toddlers include getting used to authority figures other than parents, learning to function/share in a classroom setting, and of course the socialization. I could never do as many activities as he does in daycare -- Spanish, singing, dancing, cooking, arts and crafts, yoga -- their days are jam packed!

But as for the benefit of daycare for babies... it does socialize them to a degree even at that young age, and gets them on a schedule. A lot of babies nap/sleep better when they're in daycare. But I don't think it's necessarily better than being at home.

We're going to put Olive in daycare at some point, but not until she's older. I want her to be home for at least the first year.

As a junior kindergarten teacher, I can say that there is definitely a huge difference between the kids who went to daycare and the ones who didn't. But I think that's just because the routines are similar.

By halfway through the year, the kids who didn't go to daycare have 'caught up' in the social and routine stuff.

I'd say there are great things about both, but before I was a JK teacher I was so sure that being a SAHM would be the best choice for my children, but after seeing how well the daycare kids did, I changed my mind about daycare

We recognized that my son (now 2.5) was a very social baby at an early age...like a few weeks old. He thrived in an atmosphere where there were other children/people around. Now, clearly, that is a socialization point, but stick with me. I made it point to get out every day with him and do something social...there are a wealth of mom/baby groups/classes in my area. We had a nanny for him one day a week when he was 7 months old, but it soon became clear that he would do really well in a more social environment. And here's where the daycare and learning comes in. I chose a home daycare that focused with a clear curriculum. ALthough my son was young, only a year, the older students around him were examples to him of how to share, how to socialize, how to express himself with his peers. That in and of itself was priceless, but probably most importantly for me was that my son was a late gross motor developer. Every day he was at the daycare, they did yoga with him and other exercises...all things that sure, I COULD have done at home, but since it wasn't mommy trying to get him to do stuff (he was also VERY independent and hated being 'helped' by us) he thrived in this atmosphere.

I don't have to send my son to daycare. I am a work at home mom, but my work is volunteer/recreational. But I absolutely see the benefit in sending my son to daycare. Now, clearly he is older than your child, but still, just being there and observing the older kids is a different experience than you can provide at home. Not better or worse, just different.

I was pretty skeptical, but Charlie's development exploded when he started daycare. It's kind of crazy, especially since it's only been four months or so.

There's nothing daycare can teach my kid that I CAN'T, but they think of stuff that I don't. And they just do different activities and have different conversations and learn about different things than what comes up in our daily life at home. It complements what we learn and do at home.

Our house is next to a daycare and playground it was a big plus when we considered buying. I always thought it would be awesome to be able to walk LO over while it freed me up to do some errands and pursue my language studies.

However, I just learned that daycares in Sweden don't admit any child that's under 1 yrs old. It was a bit of a shock because I didn't anticipate it - basically a parent is supposed to stay home with their LO for at least a year.

After giving it more thought, it's actually great! Like yourself, I don't see what a baby can get out of daycare, a toddler is different, but a baby is a bit young. People's opinions are based on the norm, and I grew up in the States so I thought it was normal as well (especially since everyone has to go back to work so soon after). But it's not the norm everywhere and you're definitely not alone.

My sister puts her 3 kids in daycare and they are WAY more outgoing than my brothers 4 kids whose wife stays home. I was also raised by a SAHM and I was definitely a lot more shy and not very outgoing because of it. As far as teaching, I'm sure a SAHM could do just as much teaching as the daycare, but the only difference like PP's have said is that it's someone else teaching your child which probably does make a difference. I would imagine it would help them learn to respect authority figures and of course the different styles of teaching might benefit some kids.