Starting Daycare
Starting daycare comes with all the feels. Excited for your child to be in a new environment to learn new things and socialise with other children but the dread of missing them and the illness that will no doubt come. Daycare is an individual decision for all families, but I can tell you for our family the benefits far outweighed the cons.
I got to earn money again for the family (which we no doubt needed for the mortgage), I got to use my brain, be an adult and have a hot coffee by myself and I came home refreshed to be a mum.
Yes, the cons are there. Missing your child, questioning your decision, the rotating door of illness. But before you know it your child is singing songs you don’t know, they have learnt things you didn’t teach them, they have little mates, their confidence grows, and the illness gets less.
The things I wish I had known before starting daycare and I hope might help you-
Put them down as soon as you know when you want to get back to work, waitlists are long, and they can be hard to get into. Especially if you really want the one that is in walking distance!
Label everything - it’s amazing how quickly you will lose their clothes
Don’t stress to much about the sleep. If they start not sleeping at daycare, they will still sleep however they normally do at home.
Make sure their bag/backpack is practical and big. It will be full before you know it and the little cute coloured one with their name doesn’t fit the endless changes of clothes
Make a plan about logistics who will be dropping off and picking up
Have a plan for when they do get sick- who will take sick leave, is there any other help you can call on, who will the daycare call first
Have a stash of meals in the freezer for the sick days or even just the days dinner needs to be served as soon as you walk in the door
Have simple analgesia in the cupboard
Lastly but most importantly have something nice planed on your way to work the first day you drop them off. Even if it is just a coffee at your local coffee shop. No matter how prepared you both are its hard to say goodbye on day one.