I've got two young kids in full-time daycare. Our daycare is crazy expensive. We tried the route of one parent stay home to be a caregiver this year. In the end, our kids weren't continuing on the same trajectory as what they were when they were in daycare. One child continued on part-time at the daycare doing a two day a week schedule and was noticeably falling behind his peers in his education and socializing. Not for a lack of us trying, my wife was very active in trying to be with both kids. But two very young children can be quite demanding. And in the end our house was messier (kids tearing everything apart all day long versus just a few hours), we still had pretty much the same diet, my wife was more tired and frustrated at the end of the day, etc.

My wife is back to having a wage, and both kids are back to full-time daycare. They both really enjoy school. And comparing them to their peers who stay at home, they're usually way ahead when it comes to counting and numbers, vocabulary, spelling, reasoning, and social skills. Which I mean makes sense, they're around people who got degrees in education with professionally thought-out lesson plans every day.