As a stay-at-home, work-from-home mom, I am primarily responsible for my 18-month-old daughter’s childcare during the workweek. Even with childcare help from my mom and mother-in-law, it’s still hard to find time to get all of my work done on top of childcare and household tasks.
I’m so lucky that my work is flexible and that I get to spend so much time with my daughter. And I’m even luckier that my mom and mother-in-law help us with childcare three mornings per week.
But after a few months of our current childcare situation, I was still finding it difficult to get everything done. And on days when I was solely responsible for childcare, dog walks, household chores, and squeezing my work into nap and bedtime, I was absolutely drained.
And so, we decided to enroll our daughter in part-time day care to help lighten my load. She’ll be starting next week, and while it will be a big adjustment, I’m confident we’re making the right decision.
Day care will give me more consistent hours to get my work done
I am so grateful that we have family members who are willing and able to help with childcare. My mom and mother-in-law come over three mornings per week, babysitting my daughter for two to three hours each time.
While that is helpful, it’s hard for me to get much done in that time. In addition to work, I’m also using those two to three hours to walk our dog, prep lunch, do any necessary household chores, and sometimes even to shower.
The hours and days are also not consistent. Almost every week, we need to swap days around to accommodate someone’s schedule. There isn’t a strict start time, so I never know exactly when my mom or mother-in-law will arrive. Both grandmothers also regularly go on vacation, meaning some weeks or months they can’t provide childcare at all.
Both my mom and mother-in-law have offered to stay longer or babysit on other days for us, which we really appreciate. But we don’t want to take advantage of their generosity, and, given their busy schedules and vacation plans, the childcare would still not be as reliable as a professional day care setting.
With day care, I’ll be able to drop my daughter off at the same time on the same days every single week. Once I’m back home, I’ll have the whole day to get all of my work and household tasks done before I need to pick her up again. No more cramming everything into a two-hour nap!
Despite its pluses, day care isn’t the perfect solution
While I do think day care will give me more time to work, I know it’s not the perfect solution.
Because day care waitlists are so long in Vancouver, we’ve had to look outside our municipality to find a spot. The day care we got into is farther from home, which will mean a longer commute there and back twice a day.
It’s also a huge expense. Even though our daughter will only be enrolled part-time, three days a week, it’s still a big hit to our budget (CAD $1,000 a month, about $713). I feel guilty about this, especially because we weren’t paying anything before, with our moms providing childcare for free.
And even though I’m hoping day care will be a consistent childcare solution, we’ll still have to figure out what we’ll do during closures, holidays, and the inevitable times when our daughter is at home sick.
I also worry about the transition to day care, since this will be our daughter’s first time being cared for by anyone other than her parents or grandparents. I’m sure she’ll adjust, but I’m nervous about a potential rough start.
Overall, I think day care will be the best thing for the whole family
Weighing the pros and cons of day care, I still think it’s the best solution for our family.
Day care will give me more time to dedicate to my work, so I can be a more present mom and partner during my non-working hours.
Plus, our daughter is very outgoing and loves playing with other kids. Once she’s adjusted, I think she’s going to thrive. She’ll have social opportunities we can’t provide for her at home.
And best of all, because she’s only enrolled part-time, our daughter will still get to spend two mornings a week with her grandmothers and two afternoons with me. So we’ll all still get plenty of quality time together.
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