We have opted for me not to work, or when I did work, we had lovely babysitters come to our home. This was our choice for a few reasons: 1) I didn't like the idea of a "standard daycare" center. It scared me that I was intrusting my child with strangers. 2) I couldn't control what kinds of kids were there or not there, and what habits my child might pick up. 3) The germ congregation. Uhhh, germs!
So, some asked why not a small in-home daycare or just a stay at home mom at their house..... well, the main reason for that was that I cannot dictate, in a private home, who comes and who goes. I can't demand that "Uncle Frank" doesn't come over, or the mail boy doesn't sit in the foyer while their wages are retrieved...... I think you get my drift. Also, we always had a child who was not old enough to tell us that things were not quite right.......
In order for us to avoid the 2 above stated issues: we had ladies (2 different ones) come to our home. We paid them WAY more than we would a center, yet it was so worth it to have them come, to not disrupt the days activities. We were ensured that their weren't any unexpected visitors, that our house was baby proof, that their were no dangerous dogs in the backyard---etc. We had control. However, with this came some sacrifice. These ladies had lives of their own. They had schedules of their own, they were not always available every time we needed them (which, of course, is to be expected). We did not require their services enough to fund their bank accounts as much as they would need to be funded.... which led them to find other jobs, which of course led them to be even less available... etc. But, we LOVED having them come here, and relaxed knowing the kids were happy and safe.
However, with my new job we came to a dilemma. Scheduling dilemma. We have 2 kids who need our personalized bus service 2 times a day, we have Chris who works from home---and cannot work if there is a babysitter here (and of course, can't work if he is responsible for Julia). We need someone for such limited and varied hours and sometimes on short notice... we just couldn't do an in-home sitter anymore..... We finally broke down and decided a day care center was the answer.
*They do drop-in care
*They are a locked facility
*They have parent video cameras where we can watch Julia in her classroom anytime we want
*It is rather inexpensive (which was not a deciding factor, but is of course really nice)
*They will foster potty training! (It has crossed my mind more than once to just put her in it fulltime for 1-2 weeks so THEY can do this... I would MORE than pay the money for that :-))
*It is fairly close to our house
*It is a well-known company and has MANY safety guards to keep my escape artist SAFE!
Well, knowing we needed a practice day where we could pick her up if something went array, and yet ease her into the daycare so it wasn't a culture shock one day... today, I had the older kids open house at the school, so I opted to drop Julia off. We didn't need her to go there until noon, but that is nap time, and I decided that it would be better to not drop her off then-----so I dropped her off at 10am. She ran in, no questions asked, no hesitation, said goodbye and found a friend.
I... stood there. Starred at her. Gulped hard a few times before slowly backing out of the room and absentmindedly walking down the hall. I got in the car and drove to where a friend of mine was at work and unloaded my anxiety on her. (She was great and allowed me to wallow, as well as keep me laughing and grounded! Thanks T!)
I felt horrible. I have never "left" her in a facility with complete strangers. All alone. A new strange place. (With horrendous germs! ;-))
But, I called a few times, she was doing great. Never an issue. I went to pick her up at 2 and she was taking a nap, so I waited until 4. I walked in the room and she ran over to me with a huge smile, a monstrous hug, and a completely forgiving kiss. She still loved me! It was great.
Then we got home. She is still in a VERY happy mood, however more mischievous than ever. In a less than 2 hour time frame she has gotten markers and decorated herself, the couch, and the oven...... she has eaten hand soap from the bathroom..... She has jumped on her sister, smothered her annoyed brother in kisses/hugs, taken her diaper off and peed on the floor.
Maybe daycare isn't such a good idea! She is just learning new mischievous tricks.
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