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- Knowledgebase: Parenting Questions
- Questions about the managment of common parenting problems such as discipline.
- 16. Should my 3 year old be in daycare / preschool some? - Top
- Q: Is it OK to leave my child with a child care provider for 1-2 hours per day, every now and then? My child is 3 years old and has not been away from me. My husband and parents believe I should stay with the child all the time.
A: Between the ages of 18 months and 3 years children go through a progression from dependency to independency. As they go through this they develop self confidence to stand alone in the world and survive. Some children make this transition easily and others struggle.
Your child may not have accomplished this because of no opportunities to develop this stand alone self confidence. In my experience, children who have not gone through this who then enter school, go through a big shock then. So I generally propose that these children get some Practice being away from the immediate family and seeing that they can survive on their own. They also learn some group social skills before school.
Another point I would like to make is that parents should all have some time as adult people not being parents. This will make them better people and therefore better parents.
- Updated: March 23, 2001
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- Knowledgebase: Parenting Questions
James L Horwitz, MD
David C. Thomas, MD
Barbara Lindberg, PNP