Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Daycare Ethics

It's 9 am and I'm home alone.

What a beautiful thing.

Especially when it looked like the daycare plan would crash when J came down with flu last week.

It's every parent's dilemma: Is it ok to send a child to daycare if she has a cold?

Part of me wanted to do the responsible thing and keep her at home.

The other part (the selfish one) couldn't bear to give up my precious me time.

We rocked up to the centre this morning and all the staff said was, "That's ok. All the other kids have colds too. It's that time of year."

Relief. Gratitude.

Better still, J seemed to have an almost instant recovery once she was in the company of her peers.

She sat down to play with the tea set, pouring imaginary tea into a cup.

No more floods of tears. No more tantrums.

Three cheers for daycare...and for the winter flu, which makes the unpleasant permissible.

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