Parents who are new to the daycare scene often wonder what kind of impact a good daycare center can truly have on their child’s early childhood development. Can the impact be that much different from what their son or daughter could experience at home or in an in-home childcare setting?
Here are some of the biggest positive impacts that a quality daycare center can have on early childhood development.
What Impact Does Daycare Have on Early Childhood Development?
High-quality childcare centers offer unique educational programs and activities that can promote educational development in a child.
Age-appropriate curriculums, hands-on activities, and field trips or extracurricular educational experiences all lend to building a solid foundation of knowledge as well as help develop a love of learning that children will carry with them as they continue to grow.
Grows a Child’s Competence and Confidence
The new learning experiences kids get to work through in daycare can help them develop their level of competence and their sense of confidence.
Getting the chance to learn and master new skills helps children realize that taking on new challenges doesn’t have to be scary and gives them the confidence they need to approach learning with an open mind and willingness to learn.
They will take this skill into their future goals and challenges as they grow as well.
Healthy Communication Skills
Daycare settings provide many opportunities for kids to hone and practice their communication skills, both with other kids as well as with their caregivers.
When little kids are put into different situations together, there are always going to be opportunities to learn and grow together when it comes to healthy communication. Whether it comes out of learning how to share, communicating their feelings, practicing manners, or solving problems as a group, kids have many opportunities to better master their communication skills in age-appropriate ways.
Caregivers can help in this process while also developing another side of the child’s communication skills: communicating with adults. When children are able to learn how to talk with, seek help from, and build a meaningful relationship with a trusted adult, their communication skills as well as their confidence begin to grow.
Positive Social Behavior
Developing their communication skills will lead kids into learning positive social behaviors as well.
Navigating the murky waters of social and emotional settings can be tough; but when trained caregivers are able to help a child work through situations with their friends that the kids may not encounter at home, it allows the children to experience a different level of growth and development in their social behaviors.
In a quality daycare setting, you will find consistent opportunities for children to develop a sense of empathy, resilience, and positive social behaviors that they will continue to use throughout their life.