When I began to explore my childcare options, I completed over 20 daycare tours. I toured daycares in the city where I live as well as those closer to my work location, which is over 45 minutes away by car.
Initially, I chose to send my child to the daycare associated with my workplace. It is a 4-star facility, with a beautiful playground, large windows, and a strong curriculum.
Once I returned to work, I learned a few things relatively quickly:
- Babies cry a lot. Sometimes, during my 45-minute commute, my son would cry almost the entire ride. I would try to hand him toys, his bottle, anything, in attempt to stop the crying. I was frantic and trying to drive at the same time.
- Sending a 3-month old baby to daycare in January means he will be sick.
His first day of school was on a Monday, and by Friday he was sick. His sickness progressed, and he was wheezing the entire month. We ended up in the emergency room because he had bronchitis and couldn’t breathe. He also required a lot of follow up care.
By February, I had pulled him out of daycare without knowing what to do next.
I googled nanny agencies and cried on the phone to the agency owner. She was able to send me temporary nannies, while I started my search for a nanny.
I posted my situation on the neighborhood Facebook group, and the first response was another family looking for a nanny share. The other nanny share baby was only a few days older than my son. The family had very similar ideals and values and needed the same hours as we did. They were so flexible and easy to work with. I had struck gold.
We searched for a nanny together and raised our children together, until the children were about to turn two. At that time, we mutually decided that the children would be better served in a daycare learning environment and went our separate ways.
Being part of a nanny share was perfect for us. Our children got more attention than they would have in a daycare setting. The nanny would put down the one child to sleep and then take the time to rock my difficult son to sleep. When it was time to sleep train, she followed my instructions. Having two children comes with challenges, but our nanny was able to take them to music class, the playground, and even gym class when I was available to help.
Of course, during the last week of the nanny share, my son had a return trip to the emergency room with asthma again. But at least when we transitioned back to daycare, my son was no longer a 3-month-old but a relatively healthy almost-2-yr-old.
Transitioning my son back to his original daycare was relatively simple. He is a very social child and makes friends easily. Often, he asks to go to school to be with his friends. He loves learning letters and numbers. He tells me all the time that he is bored at home but not at school.
There have been challenges here and there (such as having hand-foot-and-mouth disease three times, the annual stomach flu, and the yearly fear of influenza). But I know that I have dependable care and can focus on my work.
I have found that It is important to get acquainted with the teachers so that you can address concerns as they arise. In addition, it is important to develop a relationship with the school nurse (we have one!) as well as the center director.
I also spend a lot of time at drop off and pick up so that I can see which children my son is befriending. I reach out to some of their parents via text to make playdates or give each other updates. I also love throwing birthday parties for all the children in the class.
Over the last four years, I have found that a nanny share and daycare were both right for our family, but at different times of my son’s life. To this day, I am still incredibly grateful for the family with whom we had the nanny share, and now my son is a happy kid at daycare.