Comment by mixmastamyk
5 months ago
Sounds like barter to me. There are some benefits, the kid expands their social life, the parent gets to fulfill career needs, etc. There may be issues, but shouldn't be thought of in completely negative terms.
5 months ago
Sounds like barter to me. There are some benefits, the kid expands their social life, the parent gets to fulfill career needs, etc. There may be issues, but shouldn't be thought of in completely negative terms.
We're talking about different age ranges here. For 0-3 years, especially infants, the attachment research is very consistent primary caregivers matter enormously for development. A 1yo doesn't need to "expand their social life" they need secure attachment. The socialization benefits you're describing kick in later, around 3-4 years old.
Daycare typically won't take a kid until potty trained, so at least 2 and a half or so. At the early ages, it's only a few hours a day as well in my experience.
I don't think daycare is necessarily a net negative. I just don't think many families have thought the calculus through.
There are free ways for kids to expand their social lives (library, park, etc). Career needs can obviously only be met by working, but then the follow-up question is, building a career for what purpose? If the purpose is for self actualization then that's one thing, but if the parent has no desire to actually grow their career and just wants the money, then that's a different math problem.