If you didn’t know, I am a graphic designer. Been doing it for a long time, 13+ years. (Ouch – did I just admit that?) Well, over the last 5 years I have been freelancing from home. At first, it was the most lucrative decision I could have EVER made. Then, we hit a recession and the true nature of freelance hit home. I would be incredibly busy for several months and then dead – I mean crickets chirping, dead. It’s worked out so far with new clients coming in, when needed, but with the baby I have been wondering how long that would last. To my surprise, I got a call and was offered a three month, contract job. It’s part-time and perfect.
So, with that notice I was on the hunt for day care. Day care that was affordable and good for L.L. It ended up being much easier than I would have ever thought. A friend of mine provided a high recommendation to an in-home family day care. It’s perfect and L.L. loves it! I start Monday, August 13th, so we started this past week to test it out. It’s not going to be easy, but the baby is happy and Momma is going to be working her brain muscle more consistenly. I know they say that the brain doesn’t come back after a pregancy, but I’m going to try!
Since I usually like to help some other Momma’s out I wanted to offer some suggestions in looking for day care. It’s incredibly hard to decide and even harder to feel comfortable leaving your child with someone you don’t know. But it is something that has to be done, for some, and there are ways to ease your mind. My friend found her day care, now our day care, establishement on Craigslist! Now don’t let that scare you. There are people on there that are licensed and love children. They will provide you with references and let you have a play date, so you will feel better. I have to admit I wasn’t convinced until our play date. I was starting to wish we could afford the freshly clean and utterly perfect day care center that charges you $1500/month. However, I quickly discarded that wish when I saw how much L.L. loved being there with the other kids and how she was handled with such care.
I will leave you with this. Craigslist isn’t for everyone, but it is for the at home workers. They can’t afford advertising and really you don’t want to pay for them to. So if you are in the need for child care, go take a look. Meet with them, get references, and you just might surprise yourself with your neighbor who runs an in-home daycare that you never heard of before.