by Kathleen Cvitkovic

And the story continues for me, as I get back into the normal work routine while my 3-month-old daughter is at her new daycare. Although I would rather be at home with my princess, I have settled into work and am at peace with the decision I made to go back. THEN IT HIT ME! Like with anything in life, daycare presents itself with many different situations to all parents.

The good, the bad and the ugly!

The Good – Finding a daycare with which you are comfortable!
I always like to start with the good news! For me, I made the decision to go back to work and was very fortunate to have found a wonderful daycare. I not only felt comfortable with this daycare but also was very excited about her new teachers. To this day, I think that it is one of the best daycares in the area and I was so lucky to have secured a spot for my little girl. So the good news was that I found the best daycare that was a good fit for everyone in my family! That was easy! Right?

The Bad – Missing special milestones in your child’s life!
Moving onto the bad news. Even when you select the best daycare possible, you still find days where you wish you were at home with your baby. LIKE EVERYDAY!

I remember dropping my daughter off one day. She had been in daycare for about a month or two, and I realized that she was reaching some of her first major milestones without ME! She was learning to roll over and was developing her precious personality right before my eyes! OR not before my eyes! I felt like I had missed out on so much of her first year because she was in daycare since she was 3 months old. The more I thought about it, the worse it got for me. I missed her first laugh, the first time she crawled, and her first steps. To me, that was the hardest part of going back to work and having her in daycare. Missing so many special moments in her first year.

The Ugly – Sharing germs! YUCK!
Now for Ugly news…so everyone who has kids in daycare knows that you get called usually a few times a year because your kids get sick. You are prepared for this and just come to the realization that it just happens because there are so many kids in one room who share toys throughout the day.

I remember when my daughter was 6 months old, it was around Christmas and she really hadn’t been sick up until that point. Then she woke up one morning and her eye was swollen shut. Being a first time mom, I was so upset and immediately took her to the doctor only to learn that it was just a bad case of pink eye. She received drops and was fine about a week a later. I think that the first year she was in daycare she was sick about 4 or 5 times. As time went on, I just got used to being called home from work for various things and eventually she got sick less frequently because her immune system had built itself up as the nurse said would happen! (WISH THAT NURSE HAD COME HOME WITH ME FROM THE HOSPTIAL! Haha!)

So at the end of the day, regardless of the good, the bad and the ugly, I still stand behind my decision of going back to work. I also feel that if you focus on the good news first, you will have a much easier time dealing with rest!

It should be your top priority to find a daycare that is best for your child and one that you feel comfortable with. Then just take each day as it comes. I found it really hard to miss the special moments of my daughter’s first year but knowing that she was with someone that I trusted made me feel a bit better in the end.

As far as kids getting sick in daycare, it happens all the time. Now that my daughter is almost four, she has overcome this and hasn’t really been sick since she was two. So as with anything in life, always go with the good news first, the rest will always have a way of working itself out! ALWAYS!

Filed under: Mom-Me?