This is an interesting thread! I went back as a casual teacher when DS was 20 months. Saying this though I was very unhappy and I think at about 12-18 months would have been the ideal time for me. My mum wasn't able to look after DS because she was ill and I wanted to start daycare at 2 at a centre I really loved. Now DS is 3 and I work sporadically a day here and there. We are fairly well entertained with swimming lessons twice a week for DS and he still goes to daycare two days a week. However I still need a little bit of work to get into something different.