The question of when children should attend a half day preschool or full day preschool has dominated parents’ conversation from an early age. Many times it is the school board that has the final say on when they think children should begin to come to preschool. There are many private options for day care and school.
Parents may be leaning toward full time day care due to the way families are structured today. Increasingly parents are working more and a lot of the time both parents work. 73% of families now have both parents working a full time job. So they are left with few options for child care but one of the most logical seems to be going with a full time day care.
Even if there is a full time parent in the household they may not have the time to take care of the children, run errands and handle the day to day activities. Many families have multiple children so that makes juggling not one but two or three kids a very difficult task.
One excellent benefit to a full time day care is that children start in a day care and can progress in that environment when the day care has extended schooling such as K-6th grade. Many parents are opting for a program where they feel safe and know that their kids are being looked after by competent people. Many people remember the latch key kid days, but those families are few and far between, it’s much easier and safer to have a child with an adult who can watch over them while at the same time providing quality education.

25% of children with working mothers in 2006 were in a day care of some type. Others stayed with a relative or sitter. A growing number of people are beginning to put their children in a day care as soon as possible to foster educational benefits. Many parents are learning that it’s never too early to plan ahead.