Last week I officially had to start looking for a daycare for Addison. I have been so blessed that my dad has been able to watch Addie while I've been working for the past 6 months while he's been looking for a new job, but it's now time for my dad to go back to work, and for Addison to go to daycare. It's kind of cute that they are both starting new chapters in their lives at the same time, especially since they have developed a very sweet and strong bond while it's been just the two of them during the day. However, it is the scariest thing I have ever done trying to find someone I trust enough to take care of Addie while I'm at work.
I started out trying to figure out what family member was available to watch her, but soon realized that everyone I knew was also working and no one I trusted in the family was going to be able to do it.
Then I looked into public daycare centers. Because most mothers in Canada take advantage of having the whole year off with their babies, daycare centers have adapted to that and most of them only take babies a minimum of a year old. That makes it very difficult for mothers like me (who wanted to start my own business on mat leave) to find a provider for thier babies. There are only a couple of daycare centers in Barrie that take babies and the prices are literally comparable to most mortgage payments. I would have actually paid the price to have Addison in one of these daycare centers though since they treat them very well, they are held to very high standards, the babies programs are really good, and they even have webcams set up so you can check on your child throughout the day as you please. However, the wait lists are ridiculous and I need a daycare NOW.
My next step was deciding to drop my career and start my own home daycare center so I could raise my own daughter and still make a little income on the side. I love kids, they don't need to be mine for me to enjoy them, so this was an option.... for like a day, until I realized my house would never be the same and the money really sucked. If Ryan and I want to be able to provide some of the nicer things in life for our Addison, and any other children we may have, then this was not a real option. But I just couldn't bring myself to leave my precious baby with a complete stranger that I would never completely trust.
Onto the next step, which was asking everyone I knew for the name and number of a reliable home daycare provider. That failed too. Everyone that was good was already full. So that left me with my final option: looking to the internet.
I was REALLY weary about finding daycare online, but I ended up finding a website run by the city that rates home daycare centers on a whole list of criteria, and also has a section for parents to rate them and leave comments as well. So obviously I called the daycares with the highest ratings. The one that I really liked was full until May, and that just wasn't going to work, but she gave me the name and number of her friend accross the street from her that was just getting back into the home daycare swing of things after taking a few years off to raise her own children. I decided to give her a chance and found out that she has a degree in child development, an early childhood education diploma and you can tell she really LOVES kids. I took my mom with me for an initial interview, and we both liked her, but I was still unsure (I don't know anyone who wouldn't be with a complete stranger) so I took Ryan back a few days later to meet her too. Her kids were there the second time and they were really sweet kids. The 4 yr old even asked if Addie could sleep in her room while she was there and wanted to share all her toys with her. It was especially adorable when she offered Addie tea from her little tea set.
The second visit went over really well and I was happy with the answers to my hundreds of questions, with how clean her house was and how carefully she picked up Addison when I asked her to hold her (Addie will let me know what she thinks of everyone very quickly!). Addison was fine with her and was especially excited by her new puppy. Good thing I'm not opposed to some germs here and there since Addie could'nt get enough of the puppy licking her hands.
So we thought it over, called and asked even more questions, and decided to give this daycare a try. I am still incredibly nervous, but I feel confident that I did my best in finding quality care for my baby girl. She starts next monday, so all I can do is wait and see now. I am not looking forward to having to drop her off and leave her the first few times.
Wish us luck...
No comments:
Post a Comment