Daycare Dilemma

Being a mother has many challenges.  Some are things that were expected, like the early morning wake up calls, or dirty diaper dilemmas; however one thing that I never expected to be as complicated as it is: finding affordable daycare that meets my standards.

Our family’s work situation is not the normal 8 to 5 schedule.  With JC working in TV News, he works a second shift schedule.  This means he goes into work in the early afternoon and gets off late at night.  In theory, you would think this would be great for our budget.  We only have to have a babysitter for about 3 to 4 hours a day during the gap when we are both at work.  In our naïve pre-baby world, we thought it would be no problem finding a daycare provider for that short period of time.  Fast forward almost a year later, and we are still trying to find that “perfect” daycare situation – that doesn’t leave us with an empty wallet. 

We did have some luck.  The past seven months a reliable college student has been watching Anderson.  A second job and upcoming class schedule has changed her availability.  We are back to square one.

In the past year, we’ve visited a couple home daycare providers.  All of which have not been right for our family.  We’ve called many more – all are either full or have a waiting list.  The bigger daycare facilities in town are very expensive – much more than our budget can handle. 

I hear stories from other parents who love their child’s daycare provider.  The child learns so much and enjoys spending time at daycare.  I hope for that for Anderson because that’s what I was lucky enough to experience growing up with my babysitter.

Patsy was our babysitter/nanny.  To leave her title at that is leaving a lot unsaid.  She was much more than a babysitter, and still is despite much time and distance that has passed.  Patsy’s house was like my own house.  Our family’s spent holidays together and many evenings at sporting events.  When I think back to my childhood so many memories of Patsy and our days together come to mind. 

I realize that my experience is not normal for many families with babysitters.  My Mom and Dad were lucky enough to be friends with a wonderful lady who was in the situation to take care of me.  JC and I aren’t in that type of position (believe me; we’ve racked our brains trying to think of people to turn to – and nothing).   

Even though I know Anderson won’t have the “Patsy” experience that I did – I hope she will find a daycare provider that is caring, fun and kind.  I want her to look back on her childhood and remember fun times learning how to write her name, play outside and interact with other children at the babysitter.  To be able to find the right daycare provider is going to take time, patience and a lot of effort.  We won’t settle for just anyone, and finding that perfect daycare provider has proved to be a test in itself.

Any advice for us as we continue our daycare provider hunt?