Every once in awhile, I think this is a *good* thing! LOL! From the time my kids were 6 mos old until they were three, I put them both in daycare two days a month for five hours a day. On day one, I'd pay bills and do my monthly grocery shopping. (It was *much* easier without a cranky infant and a bouncy toddler running around.) On the 15th, I'd take 5 hours for myself. Lunch out with a friend, shopping for pleasure, or just go home and read quietly for a few hours.
I *highly* recommend it to anyone with small children!
But, I do agree with you. It's not a good thing on a daily basis.
I'm wondering if it's even OK on a weekly basis (the article stated even 10 hrs/wk was associated with disruption).
But, I can see someone wanting to do this, for sure, even on a weekly basis. Get a break. But if you have the option, wouldn't it be better for the child to bond with a mother or sister in a "quiet" home enviornment than be thrown in with a bunch of other chaotic kids and a few strange adults?
I will say this for my friend - her husband is not much help. The few times he takes the child (who BTW is a very dear boy - my mother loves him, and she doesn't much like many kids "these days"!), he pesters her all the time calling on the cell phone. When the boy was a baby, she finally turned it off 1 "date" we had, and he got MAD in front of me when returning, saying how awful it was this mother shut him off when "there could be an EMERGENCY"! (Geez, I guess if there were no cell phones, she'd NEVER get to go out without the child.)
However, I do wish she'd give the nice boy to her mother more, instead of pawning him off most days to some strange place.