Reevaluating Daycare

I have sent my kids to daycare. At first, I didn’t think much about it. Everyone does it, and I always thought that daycares are good for kids because they will make kids tough and social.

But that was before I knew better. After my first kid, I started to read more about child psychology and development. Psychology is not a very clear cut science; there are various contradictory studies. But one thing quickly became clear: humans are the only mammals that put their kids in the care of strangers, away from biological mothers.

The more I dug into it, the more I learned about modern childcare practices that I think are completely against nature, such as parents and kids sleeping separately or even in different rooms. No other mammal does that. Unlike humans, when an animal offspring is ready, the it leaves its parents on its own, not pushed away.

Now obviously, millions of people have gone through daycares. But personally, it makes me wonder if the rise in mental health issues is related or just coincidental with better awareness.

Sometimes you have no choice but to use a daycare. Governments around the world are improving and subsidizing childcare. But I think governments should work on improving their economies so that most children can be with their parents, most of the time. One parent works, and one stays home, or they both work part-time with staggered schedules. Probably it is not good for GDP or the stock market, but it would definitely be better for children.