Welcome to the first Early Childhood Matters blog. Although I may know quite a bit about early childhood, I must admit that I am a very green blogger. I read a blog for the first time yesterday, and this is my very first blog entry. It may therefore be New-Blogger-Optimism, but I am hoping to inspire comments and interesting conversations about young gifted children as a result of this blog.
I have been wondering for a while whether there are gifted children who have spent their entire babyhood and early childhood in long day care. Did your child attend long day care full time? Did you feel that long day care (LDC) was the answer to parenting a gifted child? Or did you find preschool more helpful? Did you choose to stay at home, or did you combine staying at home with playgroup or a few days of LDC/preschool? An Australian study on child care and multiple care arrangements found that those children who were cared for by grandparents in combination with LDC or family day care had better communication skills than children who used long day care only. We know that many gifted children have excellent language skills, and I have yet to meet a parent whose gifted child was in care from a young age 5 days per week for 11 hours a day throughout their early childhood. So, if you are one of those parents, your story would be appreciated.