How much daycare is too much?

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-10-2004
How much daycare is too much?
707
Thu, 03-31-2005 - 11:26am

Did anyone see the Wall Street Journal today? An article on the "Personal Journal" page talks about two studies that are coming out -- one being the already referenced NICHD study -- that shows 45+ hours a week of day can do harm to a child. What I found interesting about it is that the NICHD study says *anything* other than mom care is other care!! What happened to Dad?

The other article, in the same section, is an article about how parents are outsourcing everything now, including potty training! The article states that parents will send a child to a batting coach instead of just playing catch in the backyard. Another service, that costs $60 an hour (!), will help teach your child how to ride a bike!

I don't have an online subscription to the Journal, so I can't post the stories here. Does anyone else have one?

mom_writer

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-20-2004
Sat, 04-09-2005 - 1:26pm

Why *should* the demand be there? You're the only one who thinks it's reasonable for a Mom to wake at 4:30 and not sleep until 11pm in order to exercise while kids are sleeping. And you don't even live in Maryland, let alone Howard County.

Frankly, it'd be awfully poor stewardship of their fiduciary duties to the membership for them to tailor their hours of operation to your personal biases.

Karen

"A pocketknife is like a melody;
sharp in some places,
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-20-2004
Sat, 04-09-2005 - 1:35pm
Yeah, where did I get off shortchanging my kid by refusing to spend 10% of my $16K/year income on a gym membership? I'm so freaking selfish.

Karen

"A pocketknife is like a melody;
sharp in some places,
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Sat, 04-09-2005 - 2:00pm
I certainly accept that exercise is a necessary part of life. I do not accept that, in most cases, it has to be done in a gym after work. You mentioned in another thread that, because you have not exercised, it is difficult for you to play actively with your children. The funny thing, at least to me, is that "playing actively with your children" IS exercise. You can get out and take a bike ride with your kids, do an aerobics tape together, any number of things and the whole family will be heathier.
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-11-2005
Sat, 04-09-2005 - 2:05pm
oh i guess i misssed that part....exercising *with* them. please fill me in with the next excuse why (you) won't exercise...and about the accomodating hours of 4:30A and 11P. it works here and many many places i have lived before. i sense the commitment one would find with both exercise, their job and *their* child is something of mere senselessness to you.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-18-2003
Sat, 04-09-2005 - 2:07pm

Sorry, but doing those things don't help in losing 50 pounds.


I personally don't do my workouts in a gym after work. I go before work and slough my morning parenting duties off on their poor stepfather. Due to his wonderful, unending support, I'm now able to do what I've needed to do for years.



Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color.  Choosing your socks by their character makes no sense and choosing your friends by their color is unthinkable.

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-11-2005
Sat, 04-09-2005 - 2:09pm
was that on purpose? the ys i have belonged are very healthy and continue to thrive because of single, family and even college kid involvement!
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Sat, 04-09-2005 - 2:21pm
Yeah, riding a bike for an hour 3 times a week, or walking three miles a day four times a week will definitely help lose fifty pounds. I lost 18 pounds in three months last year just cutting my caloric intake and adding a three mile walk four days a week or so. I've kept up the walking and lost another four or five pounds this year without really dieting. It might take a bit longer than a high intensity hour long aerobics class four times a week plus weights, but it will help. It doesn't seem as if your routine bothers your kids in any way, so if it's working for you, more power to you.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-18-2003
Sat, 04-09-2005 - 2:46pm

Was what on purpose?

Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color.  Choosing your socks by their character makes no sense and choosing your friends by their color is unthinkable.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-18-2003
Sat, 04-09-2005 - 2:48pm

<<It doesn't seem as if your routine bothers your kids in any way, so if it's working for you, more power to you.>>


Does that apply to Mondo and everyone else too? What if they're keeping their kids in daycare an extra 1.5hrs 3x a week or sending them to the gym daycare then. If it doesn't bother the kids in any way and is working, do they still get your approval? They sure as hell don't still get m3t's, which was the point of this subthread.



Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color.  Choosing your socks by their character makes no sense and choosing your friends by their color is unthinkable.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Sat, 04-09-2005 - 2:59pm
Whether I would keep the kids in daycare an extra 4.5 hours a week so that Mom can work out would depend on a lot of things to me. Such as: The kids age. How much they're already in daycare. Whether it involves an extra daycare setting or is an extension of their familiar routine. A preschooler who looks on going to gym daycare as an adventure is a whole different thing, or who simply stays with a familiar caregiver for a few hours a week longer is different from a young toddler who has already been away from the parent for ten hours and who is sacrificing decent nutrition and sleep for Mom's exercise routine and a gym daycare, which in my experience is usually staffed by poorly trained workers who are simply there to keep the kids from hurting themselves or each other -- gym daycares are often (but not inevitably) places to park kids, not any kind of quality experience for the infant/toddler involved. But if we're talking kids who aren't inconvenienced in any way, then of course I would approve. I would even approve kids who "don't particularly like the gym daycare but who aren't suffering in any way" being parked there. Just not after ten hours of childcare and in lieu of spending an hour or so with the parent. In the case of a child who is away from the parent for ten hours a day, we're probably talking three to four hours max of "wake time" with the parent daily. I don't see the point of sacrificing more than ten percent of that time for an exercise routine unless there truly is no other choice available.

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