I Dropped My Last Baby Off at Daycare and I’ve Never Been Happier
Knowing that we weren’t having any more kids after our third has always been bittersweet for me. When we had our first, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have another baby or how to even keep TWO kids alive. Since having our third, I wish we could just have more, but city living is expensive, as is daycare, so our family of five is complete.
Working from home with a baby in the house has had its own unique challenges. While we waited for a daycare spot, I patched together child care and worked around a baby for an entire year. When a spot finally opened up for our babe this fall, and our daycare was able to accept him a few months earlier than they anticipated, I almost cried from relief.
As the big day approached, I thought a lot about how my elder two didn’t have the opportunity to start daycare before they were two, and the baby was only 16 months! He’s barely even talking. He’s my baby! Then, October 19th (his start date) arrived and my husband and I dutifully prepared him for drop off.
A was a star at his first day of daycare, he didn’t cry, he played with his new friends and he had a two hour nap. You’d think we would have been distraught, but we high fived, walked out of the school and had a little breakfast at our local café all alone.
Now, my business is finally really getting busy, I’m planning days around what I want to do, our dog isn’t getting neglected, and I am thrilled with basically everything.
Maybe it’s because when we dropped our first off at daycare, he was so starved for other kids that he never complained. Or that the middle was so used to everyone that it was like a second home before he got there, but even though I’m mourning the loss of having any babies, I’m also so grateful for the wonderful people who are helping raise our kids and my ability to live a somewhat carefree life again, that any sadness is overcome by joy.
I know many parents always feel guilty or sad about sending their kids off to daycare, but I’ve always been so happy and grateful that I can’t imagine how I could personally do it. I love working, but I also love my kids. Being able to have both a career and kids has been the best part of my adult life. And before you go thinking that I am saying I “have it all,” I certainly don’t. Things will never be perfect, and something will always get thrown aside, but walking out of that daycare that first day was liberating and I may have even done a little dance.
How did you feel when you dropped your last kid off at daycare?
