Except for a few months after my maternity leave ended (when my son was watched by my husband and sister) I have been home with my 18 month old full time since he was born, basically. I am pretty proud of this – working out the finances, getting my head into the game for all that full-time parenting requires. Not to knock people with kid’s in daycare (some of my closest friends have kids in daycare and they are great kids) but I think this kind of parenting has been great for my son – he’s a healthy, confident little boy.
The way we’ve managed this financially is in part due to the fact that I freelance from home as a Flash developer. Since the summer I have been building this little “hobby” up to the point where there is a potential that even when my son goes to school, I won’t need to go get a full-time job – I think I might be able to work from home and make decent money. It’s an amazing prospect.
In order to do this, I need to keep building my clients, portfolio, etc. Also, it’s wintertime and I’m getting a little stir-crazy – I really love working. Usually I work during my son’s naps, after he goes to bed and weekends. It’s a little chaotic.
I am thinking about organizing some childcare. I don’t think either my son nor I would be happy if I dropped him off at a day care all day. So I am thinking about some kind of babysitter, in my house, while I work in the other room. Basically hiring some nice girl to play with my son for half the day, a day or two a week and make him lunch. I am absolutely not sure that at 18 months my son will go for this AT ALL. I really don’t know. If he freaks out and hates it, I’ll just want to cancel the whole idea. I’m not going to sit in my bedroom and work and listen to him scream – I’d be miserable too.
The only babysitters we’ve had were when he was sleeping and that has only been a handful of times and always a relative or friend.
If you have a toddler, and you stayed home with them, at what point do you think they “got” having a babysitter/ part time nanny? Should I wait a year? I just don’t want to abruptly undo everything I’ve worked so hard to do.
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Well the first time I had a Day Care provider, I was forced into it. My first child I was a SAHM, however due to a break up, I was forced to go back to work and stick my 3yr. old & 9 mo. old into day care, so I could provide for us. My son did not like it at first, he cried, it was a huge change, he was starting pre-school & going to day care. The crying lasted for about a week or shorter, and now my sons are 8 & 5. I don’t believe there is any “Specific Time” in age that is going to make this transition wonderful. However, since than I have had 2 more daughters which both began Day care @ 3 months old. This may seem like a young age to most people, however the transition was wonderful. My kids except our child care provider as family, they think of them as grandparents. They spend their time with other children their age, they participate in activities, they get to go on field trips from time to time, it’s wonderful for me, because my husband and I work full time, we are comforted in the fact that our day care provider loves our kids & treats our kids & us like family. My children are not clingy, they have wonderful social skills, they know that I will always be back to pick them up after work, they do not cry or fuss, as soon as we arrive to drop them off, they run to the door with open arms for hugs, I know that my girls will transfer over to head start soon, and the transition will be easy, they are youst to sharing, listening to directions, following rules, all the normal things you would expect of a child in school. I think the answer to this question is really up to you. As your child continues to grow, he will face many changes in life, as well as many challenges, this is only but one of many that he will face in life and learn to cope with. If you yourself are not ready to send him into a new environment, than I’d say don’t even bother with a sitter…
He may react badly to it if you just kinda throw him into it. I’ll bet, though, that if you find someone you really like…and he likes, you could all three hang out without you working. Then the next time, step away for a little bit and come back. Over a week or so, I’ll bet he doesn’t have such a problem with her being around for a few hours instead of you.