- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
D.C. Area Babies
parents of babies in Infant Toddler Family Daycare
Good morning,
I am wondering if your DCP through Infant Toddler provides any type of structured activities during the day. My DS is only 5 months old, but it doesn't really seem like the DCP I am using through Infant Toddler is really doing much with him during the day. It was my understanding that Infant Toddler encouraged early childhood developement. Am I expecting too much from my DCP?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: parents of babies in Infant Toddler Family Daycare
Our DCP does a lot more free play with the children. They go outside when it is nice, which my DD loves, they play inside during the hot part of the day. The older girl there does an art project most days, DD sometimes does, but she is still pretty young for drawing.
I think this type of unstructured program is good for DD right now. When she is 2.5 I plan on placing her in pre-school. At that point I think she will benefit more from a structured program and from being with a larger group of children.
When my DCP is sick (or her daughter had a baby a few weeks ago), DD goes to a different provider whom I really like. They seem to have a more pre-school feel to their day. It's a lot more children, there is a helper there too, and they appear to be a lot more structured.
At 5 months, it was most important to me that the DCP had time to hold my DD, love her and interact with her. I chose her DCP based on the fact she only does 3 children and has the time to devote to DD that way.
While the day may be unstructured, I have no complaints about DDs development. DD has a great vocabulary, her DCP is teaching her manners and she is becoming very polite. DD is learning how to share, take turns, and be kind. These lessons to me are really important and I think my DCP does an excellent job of teaching them.
My provider has a quasi-structured environment. Actually it?s more of a routine and probably the same routine I would have if I were a stay at home mom. My DD was 7 months when she started and at time it was mostly playing with infant toys and reading. Now that she is 19 months there are more activities like story time, arts and crafts, dance, etc. She has certainly benefited from being there but we do plan on enrolling her in pre-school when she is 2.5 when she will hopefully be ready for a more structured learning environment.
Ditto to this poster!