Why I Opted Out Of Using A Creche For Baby Number Two

The subject of childcare is one that receives great attention, and for very good reason too. If you want a 'part-time job' outside of your full-time job of parenting (see what I did there), then you have to sit down with your partner and figure out who is going to look after the smallies in your absence. I worked from home when Jacob was born but wanted to get back to the office when he was about to turn one. As we lived quite far away from most of our immediate family, we did our research into the local creches and picked the one with the nicest staff, the best facilities and that came with the highest recommendations. Jacob thrived there for a year and a half until we moved when we bought our family home. I couldn't fault the place for even a second - the girls who worked there were absolutely amazing and I still consider the manageress a friend today. The other families who sent their kids there too were lovely and Jacob formed some really cute friendships while he was busy learning how to count and naming all the colours of the rainbow. I was so sad on his last day there that I literally sat on a teeny tiny beanbag in the room with the kids and cried. I searched high and low for a comparable creche in our new hometown in North County Dublin and couldn't. I had been spoiled and no one would ever be good enough again. But also, I only wanted him to do a half day. You see, even though I was desperately sad to say goodbye to the creche, Jacob himself had had enough of it. At two and a half, the full day from 8 or 9am until 6.30pm was just too much for him. Those last few days that I left him into the creche were tough because he cried and cried. I think he had just become a bit more aware of what being away from mum and dad for an entire day meant. He'd become a little more grown up. So we changed tack and enrolled him at a pre-school instead. Four mornings per week, he rocked up for a four-hour stint and I had to admit he was far happier despite me having to change my own working routine around again to suit him. When my daughter came along, our entire family routine had changed and so I really never have contemplated putting her into a creche. Keeping the pair of them at home, in their own environment and with their own routines, has been the option we've taken, even though it's slightly more complicated and requires a bit more organising. So now we have one in pre-school and a childminder who covers at our house when we need to be gone for other work. Come September, we'll have one in 'big school' and one in pre-school two mornings a week and so their childcare needs will change all over again. I sometimes still miss the freedom of the creche, of knowing that the entire day's food, activities, play and learning is covered while I do what I need to do but.. ..it's not really about me, is it?! Have you chopped and changed your childcare options over the years? Let us know in the comments on Facebook!