Choosing the Correct Daycare

Tyree’s Child Care 2 John and Sue have been seeking a new child care facility for their eight week old baby, Tyree. Unfortunately, they have been unable to come to a decision between two of the best centers. The high point of Center A is that there are many teachers and they are always speaking to and cuddling the infants. The high point of Center B is not only is it safe and clean like Center A, it is less expensive, as well. However, upon professional evaluation of the two centers, Center A was chosen for baby Tyree.
The center meets the state licensing requirements, has a nice atmosphere, is safe, clean and has plenty of amiable staff members. A safe environment and trusted caretakers are factors in building resilience in children (Bukatko, 2008). Resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversity or trauma and most children are highly resilient because they generally feel safe and protected (Bukatko, 2008). The center feels like a safe place for Tyree, with plenty of safe people to cuddle her. Center A was the more expensive of the two because it has tunnels for crawling and extra play areas.
Although this was not a factor for Tyree immediately as she is only 8 weeks old and is unable to crawl at this stage in her development, babies grow quickly and those areas will come in handy soon. Important to Tyree’s development, is the interaction with the many child care teachers that the center employs. The teachers enjoy talking to the babies during feeding times and diaper changes. They also are always available to hold and cuddle the babies and do so often. Tyree is in the first stage of Erickson’s stages of psychosocial development called Trust verses Mistrust (Bukatko, 2008).

During this stage, a baby must find consistency and reliability in their caretakers so that they can develop a sense of hope and trust (Bukatko, 2008). This is a very important first stage that lasts for the first year. A failure to establish connections during this stage could lead to trust and abandonment issues in adulthood. Luckily for Tyree, at this center, that will not be an issue. The center has many brightly colored objects and pictures. Bright colored toys and pictures stimulate a baby’s senses and help their brain’s develop.
Cognitive development is imperative and Tyree is in the sensorimotor stage (Bukatko, 2008). She is responding to bright objects around her and soon enough, she will be grasping for those objects. The center also has safe, low shelves. This is important because as Tyree develops and her motor skills advance, she will begin to scoot and then crawl. Safety is extremely important when babies get mobile so it is important for shelves that contain toys Tyree will be interested in to be low and sturdy because during the sensorimotor stage she will have hand and eye coordination to grab whatever she wants (Bukatko, 2008).
Tyree also could start using that same shelf to pull herself to stand. Finally, as Tyree’s motor skills develop further, she will become more visually and physically coordinated (Bukatko, 2008). The sorting and stacking toys will challenge Tyree mentally and help her learn new skills. She will begin to interact with her peers and begin to learn what is socially acceptable as she makes friendships and enters Erickson’s second stage (Bukatko, 2008).
Tyree’s Child Care 3 Tyree will then continue on her path of continuous development, reaching milestones, stage after stage. Tyree’s Child Care 4 Bukatko, D. (2008). Child and Adolescent Development. A Chronological Approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.