As a parent, you always want the best for your child. Time always flies, your baby grows up so fast and you realize it is or might be the time for you to get back to work. But then when is the right time to leave your child? Shall you choose a nursery, childminder, or nanny with a playgroup? Are there any benefits of a nursery? Will you be a good mother or a selfish person? Tons of questions arise, doubts and uncertainties.
Probably the biggest concern of every mother is to send her child to the nursery or playgroup. This is indeed one of the major decisions. This is why today we will discuss in-depth why it is a good idea to send your child to nursery.
You will see a different world. Depending on where you travel in Morocco, your children will understand how people live, how they dress, and what customs they have. You will hear the mosques inviting people to pray, you may also visit a desert, go on a mountain hike, dive into a cold cascade, swim in the ocean, and enjoy myriads of colors in Moroccan Medinas, and much more.
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Benefits of Nursery: when is the right time to leave my child?
First off, there is no right time for it. It is purely individual and depends on a series of factors, such as the government benefits, current working status, family status, available savings, the overall cost of life, psychological aspect of both, parent (usually a mom) and a baby, and much more. So, don’t get upset by hearing other parents and their personal stories, because every story is quite unique.
Experts say the best age would be two years old. Two years is the right age at which children will feel confident and will also enjoy being sent to a nursery or playgroup where they are cared for, supported, and taught to be confident and with high self-esteem. However, we all have different life situations, what really matters is choosing childcare that is right for you and your child in the first place.
The bottom line is that you shouldn’t feel bad about leaving your child in nurseries or daycare centers with nannies or nursery practitioners. Turns out there are lots of benefits of nursery education.
Let’s find out why a nursery and playgroup are so important.
1. Nursery includes The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
The EYFS sets standards for the learning, development, and care of your child from birth to five years old. Every registered childcare, including a childminder, nursery, and preschool is obliged to follow the program. It is, of course, designed in a playful way, and kids learn mostly through games. But also it is extremely important for kids at the early stage, as EYFS covers such topics as:
- physical development;
- communication and language;
- personal, social, and emotional development;
- mathematics;
- understanding the world, and much more.
This is just to state that a good caregiver is well-trained to daily work on your child’s development thoroughly. A study carried out by the University of London showed that children who had spent three years or more in nursery education could advance their academic attainment by up to a year over those whose parents kept them at home until the age of five.
It is important that all kids are able to spend their days active in learning more environments and try different ways to socialize with their peers.
2. Children get their independence and freedom at the nursery
There is a very important stage for every child that starts at around the age of two (it used to be three in the past) when he starts to realize that he and his mum are not one whole, but he is a little human with his own rights. It is usually known as “Terrible Twos”.
In the nursery, the child gets to explore by himself by being involved in daycare activities, try out things his own way, ask for more opinions and learn how different people perform one task. He understands more what he wants and learns to express himself much quicker. Not only that, but he also gains confidence and develops his social skills.
As an example, I must admit that my child progressed within the first two months in the nursery. Our son is trilingual. As parents, we speak to him in our native languages, and by the age of 18 months, he understood us perfectly well. But as much as we tried, he never spoke too much. Just within two-months time, our baby learned around 50 new words and started to combine them into phrases. It just clearly shows that activities for babies in a nursery setting and the environment provide him with all the necessary tools to learn and develop his skills.
3. Nursery helps your child to get social
Nothing is more important in our life than socializing. Being able to communicate well is the key to success in anything we do. I strongly believe it is one of the most essential skills for a child to learn as early as he can. But it doesn’t depend only on the nursery. The time we spend with our kids out, traveling the world, visiting children center’s ad various playgroups, farms, libraries and all sorts of activities, meeting new people, making friends, inviting guests to our house, etc. – all this makes a huge difference in our child’s social development.
The nursery is one of the most important tools for providing your child with constant communication among his peers and nursery practitioners. This is exactly where he learns how to talk to his little friends and handle different situations, such as sharing toys, defending his position, helping each other, and playing together. Childcare routine and toddler daily schedule play their role too. This is also where he realizes he sometimes has to wait for things and take turns.
At last, your child will be able to make new connections rather than having just you 24/7.
4. Nursery helps your child to develop new skills
What I am absolutely amazed about is that in the UK children have the opportunity to visit children’s centers, playgroups, and libraries absolutely for free. I have never seen the number of toys and things that are offered for kids in England anywhere else in the world. This being said, every nursery and childminder is well-equipped and offers a variety of games, toys, and resources to learn and play with every day. Read more about signs of a good nursery and a step-by-step guide for choosing one.
As an example, some of the things our nursery lets my son play with I never knew existed. They let him paint with gouache, get his fingers deep into shaving foam, slime, and water with bubbles; they recreate farms using oats and teach about insects and bugs using real soil, play with sand, and much more. This is not what all parents would do at home on a regular basis.
The bottom line is that every nursery follows the guidelines and introduces at least one new activity for your child per day. These activities include but are not limited to:
- playing with the sandpit, water table, or playhouse
- painting, drawing, gluing and sticking
- creating with construction blocks and play dough
- moving and dancing to music
- listening to stories and reading
- doing jigsaws and puzzles
- cooking simple dishes
- singing songs and nursery rhymes
5. Nursery builds a regular schedule
Nurseries usually follow a predictable routine, this includes meal times, naps, and indoor and outdoor activities. There is a good reason for this. Children tend to feel most comfortable and in control when the same things happen at the same time each day.
It helps standardize their days and prepares them better for pre-school.
6. Nursery allows your child to learn to take care of himself and to get potty-trained
In the UK, nurseries actively support potty training as soon as the child reaches two years of age. Every nursery would have special built-in little toilets or additional tiny seats. Besides, they will teach your child some basic needs, such as washing hands after painting, eating and walking; sleeping alone, finding a tissue for the nose, and tidying up toys.
7. Nursery encourages your child to work on projects on his own
Your child will be involved in lots of arts and crafts that require concentration and the ability to focus on an individual task.
8. Nursery helps your child to build the physical stamina
Nurseries tend to keep their kids busy. It is great preparation for pre-school too. During the day your child has tons to learn and achieve participating in a variety of projects and activities; exploring playgrounds and taking field trips.
An active toddler is likely to remain active later, so it is important to encourage activities both indoors and outdoors. You want your children to love the great outdoors, not the TV, one thing you don’t see at a nursery is a television (but make sure to check first!). At home, it is very easy to turn on the TV to give yourself some time off. Play is vitally important as your children will develop muscle control, balance, and coordination.
9. Nursery helps to build your child’s immunity
It is true to say that kids get sick more often at the nursery rather than at home. There is a reason for that – kids interact! But it isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as your child builds his immune system along the way. He gets through a variety of “flues and colds” but seems healthier in his school age.
10. Nursery is good preparation for pre-school
Children benefit immensely from mixing with other children and will, therefore, be more prepared and better equipped when it comes to starting school.
They will also adapt easily to a learning environment, have greater social skills and they will feel more secure in a different environment. A nursery will also help your child develop confidence in relating to adults.
Understanding what is expected of your child when being at nursery, he will have a good idea of how to behave.
11. Nursery is a great benefit for parents
And finally, nursery or any other type of childcare will benefit you as a parent, as well as will benefit your relationship with your child. Let’s face it: it is tremendous work to raise a child. And while they are our everything, we should have our own space and a bit of ourselves. Learn more about the benefits of being a working mum.
Surprisingly, I noticed a huge difference in how I felt with my baby after we started the nursery. Not only I was more relaxed, but I also tended to spend more quality time with him compared to being a home-stay mum.
Truth is, your child is being looked after by nursery practitioners who have had a decent night’s sleep, enjoy their work, and are paid to change nappies, manage tantrums and clear up food thrown on the floor. Parents feel more relaxed after having a break from their children, which can only be a good thing for you and your child.
We wish you and your baby to have the best experience with your childcare!
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Thanks for pointing out that a good caregiver is someone who can thoroughly help with your child’s daily development. I love my kids but I don’t spend a lot of time at home. I think I’ll take them to a daycare or something similar where a proper caregiver can help their development.
I liked it when you mentioned that sending your child to daycare can offer the chance for him to socialize with kids around his age. My son is turning 3 years old next year and my wife can’t continue to take care of him anymore since she has to start working soon. I think it would be great if I send him to a reliable daycare so he can start making friends by socializing with the other kids.
Hi, Taylor! I absolutely agree. I believe regardless of all cons, the fact that the child socializes, learns how to communicate, and enhance his vocabulary is a big advantage. My child just turned three now and the fact that he speaks three languages fluently, thanks to the nursery, is very impressive.