If you’re like most parents, you look for a daycare for babies and toddlers because you work every day. Having a safe, caring environment is a big help, but you also want your child to get more from this experience. The good news is that quality early childhood education provides many benefits.
It’s All About Quality Care
Since daycare for babies and toddlers became widely available, multiple organizations have studied its benefit to children. Researchers tracked children from their early years in childcare into adulthood in one study. This study and others vary in their conclusions, but they all have one thing in common. They stress that a child’s benefit from a daycare experience is directly related to care quality.
Here are 5 of the known benefits that begin during daycare for babies and toddlers and last into adulthood.
1. Brain Development
Research shows that your child’s early learning activities are essential to brain development. A child’s brain responds to physical, visual, and oral stimulate during their first five years. Children benefit from stimulating activities at home and quality early childhood education experiences. In discussing brain development, the nonprofit, First Five Years Fund explains that children need brain-nurturing experiences before beginning their kindergarten education.
2. Social Skills
From newborn to five years, your child develops social and emotional skills that serve them later. In daycare and early learning environments, young children learn social skills through daily interaction with other children and adults.
· Making new friends
· Developing new communication skills
· Adjusting to a school environment
· Learning to play with others
· Learning to share
· Listening and reacting to instructions
3. Healthier Outcomes
An article by Healthaffairs.Org discusses a trend of healthier outcomes in children when they participate in daycare and early learning environments. They found that early childhood education centers usually provide higher-quality, more beneficial care than in-home and other informal care arrangements.
Daycare for babies and toddlers promotes health through physical activities, required immunizations, health screenings, and medical care guidelines for sick children. Over the years, children with daycare experiences had better overall health.
4. Executive Function and Self-Regulation
Executive function and self-regulation are a group of abilities your child learns early and uses throughout adulthood. Children in daycare learn to remain flexible and responsible. They work with information, filter distractions, and focus on details. A Harvard article compares these executive function and self-regulation abilities to the skillsets used by air traffic controllers.
5. Academic Readiness
Young children who spend time in early learning environments are better prepared for kindergarten and future educational experiences. Several studies found that children who began learning in daycares for babies and toddlers dropped out of school at lower rates and graduated from high school more consistently. They also went on to secondary educational institutions more frequently. As adults, they continued to demonstrate their early daycare experiences’ academic and economic benefits.
Contact The Learning Center
TLC is a top daycare for babies and toddlers, we have campuses in Windsor, South Windsor, and Manchester. Complete our contact form to learn more about our quality daycare programs and the benefits for your baby or toddler.