Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward writes:

The relative (whose neck I would love to wring right now) insists a
child should be kept at home until age 3.

I am doing this because I need to keep my job.

Depending on your daughter's personality and how many hours she's at
daycare, that relative may be right that it will hurt her in some way.
At the same time, you're right that losing your job would hurt her in
other ways.

That's the painful thing about being a parent: We instinctively want to
give our children the best in every area, yet we constantly have to
choose. And we know our kids will be hurt sometimes by us, sometimes by
others, and sometimes by themselves.

I recently had lunch with a 23-year-old coworker. He still remembers
the sinking feeling he had looking out the window the first time his
mother left him at daycare. That was him. Other kids do fine all day
at daycare. Still others will do well for a few hours but not all day.