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Friday, May 06, 2005

Is Daycare Worth Working?

My mother-in-law, who happens to also be my daycare, has informed me she'd like Madison to go into part-time daycare after she turns 1 (so, June). I understand and respect her reasons: 1) She is having health problems 2) The girls seem bored even though she has a plethora of things for them to do 3) They need interaction with other children and 4) She is feeling overwhelmed having one or both of them for 11 hours every day (Grandma also watches Madison's cousin, who is 18 months old, and is asking that she go into part time daycare too). Nonetheless, this brings my worst fears to life and now I must face and deal with them.

How do you find someone you trust with the most important little person - someone young and fragile, who can't defend themselves or necessarily communicate that something isn't right?

I've done my research. I've called accredited daycare centers, I've scheduled tours, I've called a referral service. None of this is making me feel any better. Most of the daycare centers won't even take a child under 18 months part time. I don't want to put her anywhere else full time. Grandma is a child-development specialist. She has taken good care of Madison, and has a real investment in her well-being.

I'm feeling blind-sided and probably just need time to swallow this and follow through with more tours and telephone calls.

4 comments:

Martin said...

Definitely do the tours. It will open your eyes to the variety of levels in daycare. You will find the lowest (the one with 10 kids to one child and unsanitary conditions) to the highest (one that has less than 3 children to an attendant, an educational agenda with a guide on what they plan to cover and a clean healthy environment.) I've been in several of them and was absolutely shocked at some and thrilled with others but you may have to break out the pad and paper with pros and cons.

Martin said...

"10 kids to one child" ok, I'm tired. lol Any high ratio of children to specialist gives opportunity for issues. But of course, the better care will cost more.

Teri said...

I agree with you, no matter how much research you do, it is still scary to leave your baby in the hands of strangers. When Josh was little, Lloyd and I worked opposite shifts with different days off in order to avoid dealing with the issue. I worked in a casino so it was easy for me to change my hours.
How long is your mother-in-law giving you to find daycare? Are there any other family members you can pay to help out even 1 day a week?

Anonymous said...

After reading this anti-daycare website, I can understand your fears...