Young children don't as a rule play with other children the term used is "parallel play" where they play alongside others but not with others. The younger the better for socialisation as this is a skill that all children need to learn. Mothers Groups or play groups are a great place to start, especially if your child will be in day care at home by herself. FDC is also wonderful, because depending on state regs, she will be one of four or five children, and most carers only have one child under twelve months of age. As a carer myself, I find that the children who start care under ten months of age separate better from their parents then children aged ten to twenty months of age. I have a two year old who started with my in January, just began this week to play with another child (age 2-1/2) the elder child has been in care since 9m and has never had trouble been left by mum or dad
We put DS into day care (first as an emergency, then one day a week, now two days a week) when he was 10 months old. And honestly, I'll be starting a lot earlier with this next one. I think it was hard on him because he hadn't interacted with a lot of kids before (ie ever!), and he got scared when a lot of kids were around him instantly - just wasn't used to it. So with the next one, I'll be starting at 12 weeks when I have to go back to work. I think it works for our family as DS has problems being independent, and the girls at day care are helping him with that, and his walking skills etc, so I'll be more than happy to have my next one start from an early age.
But its whatever works for your family, and also what YOU are comfortable with.
My kids have both been in family daycare, 2 days a week from about 7 months.
DD recently started kindy, at just on 3, and she seems to be at just the right age to really benefit from the larger group of kids.
The reason we put her in was because at her FDC, she had been with the same three kids (one of whom was her little brother) for a long time, and she was the oldest out of the group by quite a bit.
As she got closer to three we really started to notice that she was "role playing" by herself alot and imaginary friends started to appear, and she just really seemed to be looking for that interaction with kids her own age that she wasn't getting at FDC. She loved her carer and we were loathe to pull her out but she has absolutely thrived in kindy and she literally cannot wait to go every day. The larger group dynamic has been really good for her communication and social skills, and she just loves it.
I think we put her in at just the right time.
Every kid is different but 3 was the magic age for her.
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