When are Parents scared about Daycare?

Daycare is a period of great change in a kid’s life and it can be frightening. Every parent anticipates that the child will surely be scared initially of the unknown in the daycare. A huge amount of material is available on how to help her overcome the fear and adapt to the new environment.

Image Courtesy: Pexels

What does not get the attention it deserves is the fear of parents themselves, when their children start daycare. The child’s safety in the daycare is not under the control of parents. Others are responsible for that. It can be very unsettling, if you, as a parent, fear that they may not be as much responsible as they ought to be. To deal with this ticklish situation in the right way, it is essential that you need to be objective about your own apprehensions.

Neglect and abuse

The worst fear of parents about daycare is their kid’s bitter experience of neglect and/or abuse. While intentional abuse is extremely rare, cases of neglect caused by overcrowding or employing untrained staff are not unheard of.

Check if the daycare you have chosen has well-defined qualification criteria for the people it employs, and whether background checks have been done on them. If there is a system of checks and balances in place, it is very unlikely that there is anything going wrong.

Bad habits

A child’s behavior will change when she starts going to daycare. From a world influenced only by family, the child is now exposed to all kinds of behavior of different children and adults she meets at daycare.

Bad adult influence in daycare is rare, but negative influences from other children are more common. What one family considers unacceptable may be harmless for another. Your child’s behavior is bound to change – its part of normal growing up. If you are not comfortable with the changes happening in your child, then talk to the daycare about the situation.

Sickness

A daycare with 20 children in one room is a breeding ground for germs, no matter how careful the staffs are. There will be colds and coughs contracted at daycare, and in the worst cases, perhaps something a little more serious.

Take it too as part of growing up, and developing an immunity to what the child’s broadening horizons will open up for her as she grows. That does not mean the daycare has an excuse for not maintaining the minimum health and hygiene safety standards. If in doubt, talk to them about their policies on these matters.

Remember that your child has to venture out into the world, and daycare is the first stage of the journey. There will be ups and downs because that is what life is all about, and this is how her learning begins. This does not mean you should neglect or suffer silently any genuine concerns you may have.

Talk to your daycare about the fears you have. A professionally managed institution should be able to understand the backgrounds of parents and appreciate the concerns they have. The management should reassure parents, giving them the information they need in order to make them feel comfortable about their children’s life at the daycare.

If it does not happen, you should look for another place. Use an online resource that helps you find the right daycare located in your area.