[Zetack]

I'm somewhat skeptical of day care, although I'm sure there are some good one's out there. Pre-school, however, I feel is so valuable that even full-time stay at home parents ought to consider sending their kids. They do, however, tend to run 4-5 hours a day, not all day.

Let me throw my biasis out there though, cause they may have an affect on my opinion. My Mom was a stay at home Mom who didn't start working till I was a teen. But she thought so highly of pre-school that she actually helped to found one so I could go. (She'd been unable to find a montossori type program in our area when I was a kid and thought that was an important type of experience). and she was really commmitted to being a full time Mom. Educators run in my family and I have a huge bias towards that kind of thing.

I have a stepdaughter in kindergarden. My wife pur her in pre-school when she got divorced, the Grandparent's picked her up after pre-school and kept her till my wife got off work. When my wife moved in with me and quit her job, we made the conscious decision to keep sending her to pre-school because we thought it was so valuable. My wife did sub at the preschool and probably ended up being there once a week or so, including sometimes in our daughter's class so there was some interaction there.

Results? According to her kindergarden teacher she's the most advanced in her class in pretty much all areas. She blows me away with what she can do, writing, reading, math, computer skills... She's also bright, curious, full of life and energy--pretty much downright wonderful (OK, for you parents, yes of course she is five, she has the temper tantrums, the whines the...well you know the list--just like every other five year old). Now she's an incredibly bright kid, but pre-school was a very imortant part of her development, and for an only kid the social interaction just can't be overstated.

I also like pre-school, because many parents seem to be absolutely clueless when it comes to raising kids. My wife is now full time at the pre-school and its simply unbelievable what some of these parents think and do. Give the kid a little early sanity in their lives at pre-school eh?

Anyway, I'm skeptical of day care generally, as I said. And the joy of poker is the incredible flexibility it offers. If I were the OP I think I'd strive for a little more balance. Try a pre-school, have the child home a little more and then juggle the playing time so you still get the hours in that you need.

Just my take on it.

--Zetack