Daycare schedule & activities?

[ourbabygirl]

For those of you who send your babies to daycare, please chime in!
I'm hoping to put my 8 mo DD on more of a schedule, w/more varied 'activities' (I'm a SAHM), and I'm wondering what they do at daycare homes and centers. It seems like her little baby friends who attend daycare are more advanced (crawling and more extroverted) than my DD, and I'm wondering if it's because I don't do enough of a variety of things with her. We take a walk (in stroller) every morning, "play" with her toys, maybe run some errands or go on a little outing, and have play dates with baby friends (about once every couple of weeks). I also take her to see my mom, who baby-sits my nephew (also 8 m.) once a week. We read books together, I sing to her, and give her tummy time w/toys just out of reach to encourage her to crawl. Also take her to ECFE classes, the occasional baby storytime at the library, and trips to the local water park this summer (to splash). I'm looking towards the future, and when she's 2 or 3 (before pre-school), I don't want her to be bored w/o daily interaction with lots of kids. I also don't want her to be developmentally behind others her age. I realize that kids learn a lot from being around other kids, especially slightly older ones, and the last thing I want is for my girl to be at a disadvantage.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!:)

[swrc00]

The one thing that I think has made DS to have an advantage at daycare is that he is around children who are a few months older than him. He is 7 months old and wants to do things that the slightly older kids are doing. He wants to crawl and stand because he sees the other kids doing it. I think you are providing a lot of great activities and would just have her interact with children who are a few months older than she is whenever possible.

[caheinz]

The one thing that I think has made DS to have an advantage at daycare is that he is around children who are a few months older than him. He is 7 months old and wants to do things that the slightly older kids are doing. He wants to crawl and stand because he sees the other kids doing it. I think you are providing a lot of great activities and would just have her interact with children who are a few months older than she is whenever possible.

I'd agree with this. Our twins and 5yo are home with a nanny, but the 5yo was in daycare at the same age. The twins are already pulling up on things to stand, about 1.5months earlier than big brother did! We're guessing that they wanna be like big bro!

As for crawling, how much time does she spend doing tummy time? And do you let toys get out of reach, so she has a "reason" to crawl?

Also keep in mind that some kids skip crawling all together.

[Tammy]

Sounds to me like you're doing great things with your DD. My DD was not quite 2 yrs old when she started daycare. From 10 wks old until then, she was with my MIL and niece every day (who's 7 mo older than her). Since she started daycare, she's not as easily bored during the day (but MIL didn't do as much as you and couldn't go anywhere), loves the activities and schedule, and the biggest difference we notice is her social skills. She used to really clam up around other people for a while and eventually loosen up (which seems normal at a young age as well), but she really loves seeing her friends and teachers every day and talks about her "school" all the time. I work FT so my DD has to go to daycare FT, otherwise after seeing the benefits and how much she loves it, if I didn't work I would still like her to go PT. I did feel more comfortable with my DD not starting daycare until she could communicate though- just made me feel better. Good luck!