Caring for children while working is an issue many parents have to face when it’s time for them to go back to the office full time. That’s the reason why they have to weight out the choice of keeping them at home under relatives’ supervision (usually grandparents since they’re retired most of the times) or enrolling them into child care to be looked after.
Whether to follow through with one option or the other, I think is determined by multiple factors, the first of them being the economical one. Bringing little kids to childcare everyday is extremely expensive in many countries nowadays and some families simply can’t afford that. However, having your baby in professional care hands could mean properly helping raising them in a safe environment, with age appropriate activities and the company of other toddlers to play with on a daily basis.
On the other hand, grandparents’ supervision is definitely cheaper and the young children would be with more familiar faces, but as easy as that may sound, I think it takes away the thrill and the opportunity for the kids to spend quality time with their classmates every morning, in a place where they can learn, make mistakes, fall and get back up with the help of the teachers and the friends they make along the way. Older people tend to be very patient with young children, but more fatigued in their presence because they require a lot of attention, awareness and energy to be entertained. This could translate into the youngsters being left to play on their own, missing friendship opportunities.
To wrap this up, I suppose the decision is very personal and every family definitely needs to take in consideration all of these aspects and ponder what path would be in their best interest. With that being said, I personally believe parents should do everything in their power to ensure that their children can have some sort of daycare experience to help them bloom more than they would at home.