if they are old enough maybe. less than 3 years they should be at home with their parents.
in austria/germany kindergarten and school traditionally is half day. afternoon childcare is considered special and very expensive, if you can even find a place. finding a space in kindergarten can be a problem too.
many parents want to send their children to childcare but they simply can't
In Norway most kids start kindergarten when they are 1-2 years old, it's not really a problem for most. Probably much more fun than hanging with their mother all day. Some have shorter days the first year(s) depending on parents work schedule etc. Kindergarten is heavily subsidised by the state, so that makes it affordable for everyone.
Probably much more fun than hanging with their mother all day
for a 2 year old? hardly.
more research on this topic is needed. i found at least one german report that claims that there are significant risk factors for early daycare that negatively affect the development of children and their relationship to the parents:
bad quality daycare, lack of motherly sensitivity, spending more than 20 hours a week in daycare, daycare before 2 years of age.
that report also claims that daycare generally affects the socioemotional competence of children, and that 25% of children that received full day daycare by age of 4 show significant problematic behavior even if the daycare is of good quality.
the quality of parental care is the strongest factor for the development of social and cognitive development.
another article claims that kindergarten does not have a positive effect before age 4.
on the other hand another article claims that children that receive some (but it doesn't say how much) external care in the first two years of life are less likely to later have psychological illnesses, and children that start kindergarten only at 4 are twice as likely to get sick. (personally i doubt that, but there it is, research is conflicting, and the jury is still out). but that same article also claims that things have improved over time. before the 90s, early daycare had a negative effect while after the effect became positive.
i am not saying that there is only one truth, but as a supporter of the attachment theory of parenting, i tend to side with the idea of keeping kids at home early, and only introducing daycare very gradually and i can also confirm some of this with my own experience.
Well, in Norway most children have been attending kindergarten from they are 1-2 years old the last 20 years or so, and I don't think there's been any reports of developmental issues in these kids.
not development issues, but mental healh issues. they have been rising in the last decade, in norway and many other countries too. and early kindergarten might well be a factor. there is not enough research to know if that is the case or where this comes from.
it turns out that in germany, since 2013 parents have a legal right for a space for daycare for their children from the age of 1 year. that dramatically changes the availability and cost of such spaces.
