Home ยป Family Friday (vol. 4): Daycare Enhances My Parenting

Family Friday (vol. 4): Daycare Enhances My Parenting

15 months Shea

As Shea currently screams bloody murder in her crib, passionately fighting nap time, I sit here and think how this isn’t the case when she’s at daycare. According to her teachers, she finishes lunch, gets cleaned up, and walks to her mat. She lays down and waits to be covered up with a blanket. She will sleep about 2 hours and wake-up rested and happy.

Since she started daycare at 3 months, I was never 100% in love with dropping off my baby for the day. She was over-stimulated and often cried. I’d pick her up only to have her in complete meltdown mode, riddled with exhaustion. I hated that I couldn’t provide a quiet time for her to sleep or just decompress during the day. A room full of screaming babies is just not my idea of fun and I know she felt the same.

However, her transition to the toddler room (12-30 months) was as smooth as could be. I can’t get her coat and shoes off fast enough. She walks into the room with her lunch bag and never looks back. I find myself standing there, blowing kisses that are never reciprocated. I find myself observing her for a few moments each morning, amazed by how well-mannered and independent she is. She will join circle time for a puzzle work (Montessori curriculum) or for reading, unprompted. She just seamlessly slides in to the activities of the classroom and I leave for work feeling a little sad that I’m clearly not missed, but over the moon that she’s so happy and engaged.

This past week, it was shared that Shea began POTTY TRAINING. What the what? I was thinking we were a solid 6 months away from any of that, but the very next day, I got a note saying Shea went potty in the potty. My parenting has got to catch up. I need to reinforce these behaviors at home, especially since she’s with me on Fridays and all weekend.

I get other little glimpses into her day-to-day activities at daycare and have witnessed her walking with her friends while they each hold on to a rope. It amazed me. When she’s with me, she refuses to walk independently and will plop herself onto the ground and cry, wanting to be held and carried. This includes walking in and out of daycare. Any pointers, parents?

Also this week, her daily report card said she loves reading a book before nap time. I think this is something new and while we’ve tried incorporating reading before bed, it’s as though we always run out of time. Between dinner and baths and LIFE, it’s 7pm (bedtime) before we know it and she’s all but begging for her crib. I need to, and want to, make time for more reading at night.

We’ll see if the whole potty thing was a fluke – I’m certainly not under the impression that my child is a bodily function prodigy, but I’m very intrigued as to how this process will pan out.

And lastly, that cute little Shea photo was from last weekend. The photographer was holding a Valentine’s Day mini shoot and so yeah, a little teaser was posted the next day for us to oogle over. I just want to nibble on those arms (that are finally no longer flailing and are folded and tucked under one side of her chin as she lays still and angelic in her crib…sleeping).

Have a wonderful weekend!

Be well,

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4 Comments

  1. Tara Jones
    January 29, 2016 / 6:35 pm

    I’ll need to put my daughter in daycare in a couple of months, so it was really reassuring to hear how Shea has positively responded to it! I think it’s so important to find the right facility (I love that yours has a curriculum) and I wonder if the reason your daughter has blossomed there is because of the structure? I’m definitely going to make sure that the place I choose to take my daughter to is very structured and has a bit of a curriculum as well. Thanks for sharing your family’s experience!

    • Nicole Morrissey
      Author
      January 30, 2016 / 4:32 pm

      Tara, thanks for reading along. Finding the right fit can definitely be challenging, but of course it’s so nice to know that while I’m at work, she’s engaged, happy, loved, and safe ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. Stacey
    February 1, 2016 / 1:29 pm

    You hit the nail on the head for me! We were signed up to take our daughter to a daycare center and when we went back and visited I almost cried the minute we walked in. She was just 8-weeks old and everyone in the room was crying… It was very overwhelming and too much stimulation for me; I couldn’t imagine her going there. I changed my mind the minute we left and now she goes to an in-home with a friend. I knew I would regret her not going when she turned 1-year and needed more activities, but she’s happy and has ‘friends’ now so it’s all okay. SUCH a hard decision.
    I have no suggestions on the refusing to be independent when mom’s around… Lena doesn’t walk yet. Maybe it’s because she’s getting the snuggles and mom-comforts while at home since she doesn’t get that at daycare? Now that she’s growing up and doing more ‘school-like’ activities she’s still missing that part of her daily life. Who knows? haha. That’s what I would tell myself anyway ๐Ÿ˜‰

  3. Mary Ferguson
    February 18, 2016 / 2:40 am

    I totally understand what you say! Even I had this jitters and nervousness when I was going to drop my son to his daycare for the first time. Will he be able to adjust? will he make new friends? all these thoughts clouded my mind. But after the initial phase of crying and other adjustment problems he started loving the place, and made few friends too..The people at daycare really have to be given credit for this as they plan lot of outdoor activities so that children develop their social skills.

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