In the meantime, here's a few shots of Grace just playing around the house.
I've been waiting...
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Calling on the BTDTs
My time off work is dwindling fast and I've had to force myself to spend some time looking into daycare for Grace for September. I go back earlier than that but my parents have graciously offered to watch her for a few weeks while I am back at work before I go on holidays. So, I've visited large centres and private daycare at peoples' houses and I can't find anything that seems "worthy" of my Grace. It's so difficult to find something that seems perfect and I don't want to settle on anything less than perfect. How do I do it? How do I leave my baby with a complete stranger and feel OK about it? Some of you BTDT people (that's been-there-done-that for you non-texting non-blogger people!!), chime and give me tips and encouragement, will you please?
In the meantime, here's a few shots of Grace just playing around the house.
In the meantime, here's a few shots of Grace just playing around the house.
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6 comments:
I had a deposit for a long time at a centre. She did one day of transition and I pulled her, losing my deposit. It wasn't the same centre that it appeared to be months earlier. Luckily we got into our first choice that same week. I'll be honest, leaving your most precious gift in someone else's care every day is hard. I still have mornings where I cry. I love our centre. They follow the kindergarten curriculum style and there is a supervisor who handles any concerns that I don't feel comfortable talking to the teachers about. My daughter thrives there. Good luck.
This one's hard. But for starters if you're looking at a home-based daycare you want to be ready with some good questions about safety, immunization of people in the home, fire/smoke/carbon monoxide detectors, you'll want to examine the house even the basement (especially if they tell you they don't put the kids down there... one glance will answer this question for you). I insisted on seeing one home care's garage and that's where I discovered all of the toys for winter or summer, could not believe it. I can help you with some interview questions, but for full transparency I really preferred a daycare setting where nobody's ever really alone with your child. I had a great home daycare experience through WeeWatch though, is there anybody in your area through WeeWatch? We can talk more once you decide what direction you want to look at.
Sorry, that post was from me, Nilia! I change my screen name so often for another blog and I sometimes forget to change it back to comment on your blog!
Is there a parent who babysits at your school, who would agree to look after your little one? Both of my kids went to parents in my school neighbourhood. Bonus was that I often got to see them during the day as they came to pick up other children. Nothing brought a smile faster to my face than when I got to see my kidlets at lunch time!!
We have a babysitter list in the office and I knew which one I wanted my kidlets to go too!!
My kids came/come to my school currently so it was an easy transition for them and for me.
My friends all said that it was the hardest thing that I would ever do is hand my kid over for daycare!! They were right!
Good luck!
Hi Susan,
I went with a referral and I doubt that it was any better. Other than the fact that I knew there were no criminal history, I felt confident... but was it perfect, absolutely not. Was she safe, well fed? Yes! Was she as stimulated as she could have been? No! Was she happy? Most of the time? Did I find it clean? Most of the time. Could it be perfect?? PROBABLY NEVER!!! When she was 4, I visited another daycare - a big daycare (my daughter was in a home daycare with 6 other kids) - it was far from cleaner, very much noisier, were they more stimulated? probably! But I felt my child was better off staying put!!
It's not going to be perfect, because perfect would be your place, your arms, 24/7/365!! Try and find the most comfortable fit for you and Grace!!
She's beautiful by the way!!! When I read you, it brings me back to 6 years ago when I adopted (alone like you) my baby girl!!!
Enjoy the summer with her. It was the best summer of my life (when I was on parental leave)!!!
Diane,
Mom to Léa-Jade (7 and 3/4)
Well you can't do what I did...I adopted #2 after dd spent only 5 months in daycare...LOL.
Seriously, as a single mom, I was a bit leary of the home daycare. My sister worked and my father was away a lot. I needed a reputable place that was reliable. Check what their policy is with regards to sick time. A coworker had a day care provider who was sick a lot. Put her in a tight spot more than once. What are their sick child policies? What kind of back up do you have for sick kids? I was lucky as I got sick more than my kids. I also do not like other people driving my kids. I do not want a caregiver alone with a child without backup...I guess you go with your comfort level. I had my name on the daycare's list as soon as I found out I was adopting.
My daughter got a spot 20 months later...I had to take a month LOA to get the spot she needed at the location I wanted...there were 3 options and I did not want her to transition twice. Much easier with #2 as siblings bump the list.
Good luck. I can't believe how quickly your time off has gone.
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