Day Care Woes

To tell you the truth I am easily irritated by the amount of money it costs to put your child in day care. We have to work to make enough money to have a child, but to go to work you have to pay tons of money to day care. Don't get me wrong, I think the day care that Quinn is at is very good. I like the teachers, he seems to like the teachers, and it seems like they are doing a fantastic job with him. The reason that I even bring this up today is that sadly my day care is closing on December 12th....forcing all parents that go there to look for alternative day care for their children. I feel as if I am almost in a competition to find a spot for my child before someone else takes it. Do you know how often spots are open for infants at day care??? Do you? Let me enlighten you, not very often. The day care closest to my house has a waiting list through 2009...and that was back in October that I checked, so I imagine it is through 2010 already! I thought I was lucky when I called La Petite and they said they had an opening. I gave my deposit that day so as to not loose our spot. Apparently I have a day care curse. It is frustrating, I am frustrated, and tired of dealing with this stuff. I want things to work out the way that I expect them to. Who wouldn't want to keep a baby as cute as my Quinn? I know that it doesn't have anything to do with Quinn per say, but he is so good, a breeze even to take care of, unless he is hungry, then he can become a bear.

Sometimes being a mom is really hard. We have to deal with a lot of things..the guilt of not being able to stay home and take care of our child, the worry that something is going to happen to them while they are in someone elses care, the worry that they are going to think that someone else loves them more than I do, the stress of thinking that who you chose to take care of them will not be there forever, and just plain fear. There are other things that I think about though. Once you do find a place that you like (like the one that we have now) you realize the amount of development they are getting. They get to play with the other kids and socialize, I mean Quinn doesn't really socialize per say, but someday he will and this experience will be worth while. It also shows him that other people are good, and maybe that will prevent him from being too shy. Shyness can be debilitating and stressful on the person that suffers from it. I hope that Quinn doesn't have to worry about things like that, that he will be outgoing and meet as many people as he can...

I guess I didn't think that finding a new day care would be this hard on me emotionally..I know that it has officially ruined my day, but it is more than that. I am sad that Quinn is going to loose the bond that he has with his "ladies", and sad that I will loose the bond that I have with his "ladies", they love him, and that makes me love them. The closing of the day care is just as bad for them (if not worse) than it is for us, they are loosing their jobs, in a time when the economy is in peril, they must be terrified!

I will keep my fingers crossed that we will be able to find a day care that will be as great for Quinn as this one has been, and that all of the ladies that work there will be able to find jobs again.

The search must go on! To all that are looking for affordable, reliable day care, I feel your pain!