Part time daycare for some sanity?

Post Reply New Topic

Definitely do daycare if you feel like you need a break. There are a lot of them out there, and you might be able to find a small program where there won't be too many kids (overload). I waited until age 3 with both of my kids and I wished I had just started earlier with both of them. Moms need breaks, and they are very hard to get when you stay at home 24/7.

Also, if you are getting an assessment done right now and they find your child needs services, it's likely they will go to the daycare to provide some services and they will be able to help the staff there understand how to best care for your child.

Follow your instincts on this one, mama. you won't regret getting some time to recharge.

Yes you do have to be careful about the care that you choose however if the time spent with a caregiver is short, as opposed to 40+ hours per week, then I think the possibility that the caregiver would have trouble handling your special needs child is minimized. There is a HUGE difference between taking care of 6-8 toddlers 8 hours per day than having them only a couple hours a day.

If you are only making enough $$ to pay for daycare you are still getting the benefit of giving yourself a break even if that break involves work. While work often involves catering to someone else's needs, the quality of the need is very different. We all love our kids but I think we've all experienced the complete drain that they can be on us emotionally. We need time to recharge.

Thanks, I agree that some recharge time is absolutely needed at this point. He's only a year old and I'm already feeling like I'm at my wits end...if I don't figure out a solution now, by the time he's older (and possibly even more difficult) I'll be a complete wreck and utterly useless in helping him.

Thankfully a complete miracle happened this morning and I found out that someone I know who happens to live literally 2 minutes from my house is a childcare provider. She's looking for a toddler my sons age to play with her son who is the exact same age. She knows CPR and first aid and worked in a daycare facility for awhile. She's thrilled to take him for 4 hours per day, at the exact time that is most ideal for me, and her price is right. I had the chance to spend some time with her previously and I got to know her as a person, and I do truly feel that she is trustworthy and will be sensitive to any of his special needs. I feel like it's nothing short of a miracle that she just happened to pop back into my life at the exact time that I needed her! She's thrilled as well, so my husband and I are going to bring our son over to her house tomorrow and make sure he's comfortable in the environment and everything. I feel so relieved already.

I'd say go for it. I was SAHM for much of my son's younger years (from 18 months to just over 4) and I will tell you I really wish I would have gotten him into more socialization opportunities from a young age. IOW, I don't just think it will help you, I think it may also help him.

Being able to recognize and acknowledge your limits takes a great deal of selflessness and courage. Good on you!

I see you found a solution, but I wanted to add another possible solution for future reference and for others out there. When I was a young teen, I was looking for babysitting experience and I worked for several people as a mom's helper. I would go and play with their child, get them snacks, take them outside etc. while the mom was home doing other stuff. Since I was young, still a bit on the silly side, did whatever they wanted mostly, and gave them my full attention, they would let me do stuff leaving their mom time to get other stuff done. You would have to make sure they played and interacted, not just sat on the sidelines watching or watched tv or talked/texted on their phone. By the way I did this for NT kids, twins, two kids with autism, and one in a wheelchair.