Teaching My Child Valuable Skills

Posted on: 6 December 2016

When you think about day care, you probably think about younger kids more than adolescents or pre-teens. However, the truth is that day care can be a benefit for older children as well as younger ones. Before you opt to have your child stay home alone after school, there are a few things that you should understand. Here are a few advantages to using day care for your older children.

Ensures Supervision

When you allow your pre-teens to stay home alone, it's harder to keep an eye on them and be sure that they are safe. Sending them to an after-school day care facility will help ensure that they are safe and monitored. You can be confident that there's always a watchful eye there, particularly if something happens to your child.

Establishes A Routine

Putting your child into an after-school child care facility will also help to establish a solid routine. It gives them somewhere to be at a specific time every day, which ensures consistency. As children get older and find themselves in a solid routine, it helps them to develop some maturity and accountability. When kids develop that level of responsibility, it can transition into other areas of life, including completing school work and household chores.

Provides Structure

When you want your child to learn about how to manage time, a day care facility is a great way to go. It helps your kids learn about balancing time between play and responsibility while also ensuring the structure of a collaborative environment. Kids will have to contribute to keeping toys taken care of while adhering to a specific set of rules that likely differ from those at home. In addition, for kids who tend to spend a lot of time on video games or other similar things, an after-school care environment can help to diversify their recreational time.

Enhances Socialization

While school environments don't encourage actual socialization during educational time, an after-school care center will focus on teaching socialization skills and team building. The time kids spend in those care centers will give them the chance to form friendships with kids in the area, which may help your children become more active outside of the home.

These are a few of the benefits that you'll find from putting your older child into a day care setting after school. Don't dismiss these environments as just for younger children, because older kids thrive in those facilities as well. Talk with child care centers today about the programs that they offer for your pre-teen.