Daycare

Ian has now completed his first full month at regular daycare. Before this, he was cared for during the days by a combination of me, Doug, Greg, and Jacki (a friend from church who has a daughter 6 months older than Ian). My feelings about having Ian in daycare are mixed but mostly positive at this point. Dropping him off the first day was very hard for me, which I didn't expect, since I had been leaving him with Doug/Greg/Jacki regularly with no problem. I spent the day thinking about Ian and plotting how I could eliminate daycare from our lives. By the end of the week, I was feeling better about it. This was partly because Ian seemed relatively happy at daycare, and partly because I realized that Ian being in daycare was helping us normalize our schedule, which is good for the whole family. Doug continues to visit Ian at lunchtime whenever possible, and I make sure his days there aren't too long (usually 8.5 hours). Occassionally I am able to make an early escape from work in the afternoon, in favor of working for a while after Ian is in bed.

I am very glad that Ian did not have to start daycare until his was already mobile, because I think that it is much more enjoyable for him at this stage than it would have been earlier. He seems happy each morning to arrive and be able to start exploring the toys and the room. I am also glad that we were able to find and pay for a very high quality daycare experience for Ian. I feel that he is with responsive and caring people and in a stimulating and freely explorable environment. The experienced teachers in his room are able to give me suggestions about how to help Ian deal with the typical baby challenges (learning to eat solid foods, for example), which is helpful. That said, I'm not sure that full-time daycare is the ideal environment for a baby. I would lobby for mothers to have 6 full months off followed by 6-18 months of part-time work. Unfortunately this is not generally available and most women have to face the choice of sacrificing their long-term professional careers in order to take a couple of years off to stay home full time with their children. This is silly, and something that should change. In the meantime, I think daycare is the best option for our family. We are hoping to move Ian to a preschool in Durham later this year that have a philosophy more in line with ours regarding toddlers and preschoolers. There are two places we've applied to are a waiting to hear from. One is absolutely perfect, but he has almost no chance of getting in. The second is also very good, and he has a shot there. So keep your fingers crossed!